MAGISTRATE: CITY'S FINE FOR DRUG PARAPHERNALIA IS LEGAL

Hazleton's civil law that makes possessing drug paraphernalia an
offense that carries a fine is legal after all, the city's magisterial
district judge says.

District Judge Joseph Zola said the city ordinance that mandates a
$417 fine, including court costs, for anyone possessing a marijuana or
crack cocaine pipe, or any other type of drug paraphernalia, is legal.

Ed Pane, executive director of the Serento Gardens drug and alcohol
treatment program, said a few years ago, the Greater Hazleton Area
Drug Free Task Force got area municipalities to adopt the civil law --
but only Hazleton enforces it, because of the doubt of its legality.

Zola said that during a recent state audit, he learned the law is
legal.

"I was audited for 2003, 2004 and 2005," Zola said. "The auditors were
here a month. At the end of the audit, they said 'There's one thing.
We have to get back to you.' It turned out to be that law.

"Yesterday (Wednesday), they told me it was legal," Zola continued.
"They (state auditors) said if it was Title 75 (the state's criminal
code), it wasn't, but Title 18 (the municipal code) was OK."

In light of the news, Pane urged other municipalities that have
approved the law to enforce it, and for those that haven't approved
it, to approve it now.

Pane said the only other time the law was used was by Hazle Township
to force the former owner of a township business to stop offering such
pipes for sale.

"The law states that any items commonly used for consumption of drugs
- -- any kind of pipe or bong -- are open to the fine to anyone who
possesses them," Pane said.

Aside from taking paraphernalia out of the reach of the general
public, Pane said there are other things people can do to fight the
war on drugs.

"I used to watch the movie 'It's a Wonderful Life,' and the guy
pushing John Barrymore in the wheelchair," Pane said. "That guy
bothered me for many years and I didn't know why. He never did
anything, despite what John Barrymore's character did. Then I realized
it was me.

"I am now treating the grandchildren of people I treated when I
started in this business 30-some years ago," Pane said. "We need
active intervention. As a community, we have to raise our voices and
talk to our kids. We can make it count by doing something together."