SPENCER'S SPECIAL: POT PARAPHERNALIA?

How-to advice with a hookah burned two Hanover Mall workers caught in
an undercover narcotics sting.

Police say a teen working at Spencer's Gifts sold a cop the water
pipe along with instructions on how to best put it to use with pot.

Both the employee and his manager were charged the next day, and 28
hookahs were seized.

Daniel T. Smith, 17, of Halifax and Heather Vernon, 18, of Braintree
face a charge of selling a device, according to state law, used to
"ingest, inhale or otherwise introduce into the human body a
controlled substance."

Friday's charges were issued a day after a Hanover narcotics officer
conducted an undercover operation at the store. Police say Smith sold
the officer a pipe, adding in instructions on how to smoke
pot. Police said Vernon was on duty as the assistant manager.

By selling hookahs and other drug-related paraphernalia, including
T-shirts and posters with marijuana insignias on them, Hanover
Police Chief Paul Hayes said it's a "kick in the face" to his department.

"With all the work we do trying to educate the community about the
dangers of drug abuse, it's insulting for (Spencer's) to turn around
and sell things like hookahs," he said.

Representatives from the Hanover Mall and Spencer's declined to be
interviewed, and Spencer's corporate headquarters did not return calls.