MAYOR BLASTS CRACK PIPE SALES

Crack pipes and hookah bongs have no place in a legitimate business,
Mayor Clint Hames told The Progress this week.

But when he tried telling a local store owner that, Hames got nothing
but a stone cold reply.

"They basically said that stuff is legal and they had a right to sell
it," he says. And while he won't identify which store is selling the
paraphernalia, he says it is close to an elementary school.

"The store is right between an elementary school and a high school,"
he says, making it a popular drop in spot for things like slushy
drinks, comic books and candy. "We checked but legally there wasn't
anything we could do about it."

Hames has visited the store on a few occasions, first to inform them
that crack pipes are indeed used to smoke illegal drugs, and to ask
them to remove them. After getting no response from the store owners,
he contacted the chain's headquarters. The crack pipes and bongs
stayed, albeit behind a curtain easily drawn back by customers.

He also appealed to the store owner's pocketbook, reminding him of
the municipal taxes he pays yearly. A full third of the store's
taxes, and everyone else's, goes towards policing efforts, he says.

But that didn't work either.

"This probably goes back to just over a year ago," he says, beginning
with a letter from a concerned parent.

When he realized that dealing directly with the store wasn't working,
Hames decided to write a letter to local newspapers, outlining the
problems that can afflict a community when illicit drugs become commonplace.

"It just comes down to a standard within the community," he says. "I
don't think there would be very many people in the community that
would say this is a positive thing to have (here)."

This isn't the first time city hall staff has personally appealed to
a business owner to stop selling drug use equipment, Hames says. A
few years ago, a city counsellor approached a business with the same
request. When Hames checked out that store for himself, the
paraphernalia was gone.

"Most business owners don't want to be associated with this type of
activity," he says. "And I want to find out if this business has ever
been the target of a robbery. That would be delicious irony, because
these folks are contributing to this culture."

He believes public pressure is only thing that will stop local stores
from stocking and openly selling items like crack pipes and bongs,
the latter of which are typically used to smoke marijuana.

"Zippo lighters (with drug images on them), rolling papers, I can
understand some of that stuff and that there are legitimate reasons
for buying them," he says. "But crack pipes, I just don't get it."

"I would encourage people to speak out about this," he says, and he's
hoping that the public pressure will push the owners to stop selling
them. As of this week, they were still being openly displayed, behind glass.

Parents fighting back

Some parents have spoken out in the past, says Karen Bradwell. As
president of Central Elementary's Parent Advisory Council, Bradwell
has been in the loop regarding who is selling what, and where.

"It's the corner store that's directly across from the mayor's
office," she says.

"I had written a letter a couple of years ago to the mayor about it,"
she says. "They have a lot of stuff there. My daughter used to take
music lessons up the street, and I would go in there for a quick
snack. That's the last time I saw it. I stopped going in there
because of what they were selling."

She says bongs were on prominent display back then, and were hard to miss.

"He was very blatant about it," she says. "They weren't teacup size.
They were big."

Corner stores dealing in paraphernalia crop up from time to time, she
says. And parents, for the most part, seem to avoid shopping in those
locations.

And Bradwell agrees with the mayor's belief that public pressure and
loss of revenue can force a business to stop selling paraphernalia.
But she's heard of an even more effective method.

"There's a gentleman in Abbotsford who says they've had the most
success by getting a hold of Coca-Cola, Old Dutch, Cadbury," she
says. "Tell them what the store is selling alongside their products.
It takes more than one e-mail, more than one letter, but eventually
they stop selling it."

Both Hames and Bradwell doubt that the profit from paraphernalia
makes a difference at years' end.

"Besides, this is something they should be selling in a back alley,"
Bradwell says. "Not a corner store."