PARAPHERNALIA HARD TO BAN

Loopholes in Oklahoma law make it tough to crack down on people selling
drug paraphernalia, authorities say. While the loopholes may make it tough
to crack down on people selling items that can be used as paraphernalia,
it's not really making an impact on enforcing the laws on those who possess
paraphernalia, local authorities said. "We don't take the paraphernalia
items unless we have some evidence that they're being used with drugs,"
Police Chief Norman Fisher said. "Most all of our drug arrests also involve
possession of paraphernalia." Fisher said, probably, the most common
paraphernalia items the officers take are smoking pipes and what is
commonly referred to as "rolling papers." "If there's residue or some other
evidence in the pipe to indicate it's being used for something other than
to smoke tobacco, we're going to take it," he said. State law says bongs
and water pipes intended for marijuana or methamphetamine are illegal.

But water pipes intended for tobacco use are OK. The two kinds of pipes
aren't very different.

"The public is apt to operate on common sense," said Scott Rowland,
attorney for the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs. "They
are apt to say, 'C'mon, that's not a tobacco pipe. Everyone knows that's
used for marijuana or methamphetamine.' Cherokee County Sheriff Delena Goss
said a varied list of paraphernalia items has been seized by her staff.

She said some are quite creative. "I've seen a lot of different things come
through here that have been used as paraphernalia," she said. Goss said
sheriff's deputies don't seize paraphernalia items without evidence to
support the contention they're being used for illegal means.

She said every drug arrest made by the sheriff's office involves the
seizure of some paraphernalia. "I don't remember one that didn't have
paraphernalia," Goss said. A misdemeanor charge of possession of
paraphernalia is punishable by imprisonment for up to one year and or a
fine of up to $1,000. Mike Martin, owner of Drew's Tobacco World, is quick
to point out that his shop doesn't sell bongs. "Bongs are illegal in the
state of Oklahoma," he said. "We sell water pipes intended for tobacco use
only." That intent is what keeps Drew's Tobacco World on the right side of
the law. State law lists things ranging from pipes to cocaine spoons as
illegal.

Exceptions to the law include "separation gins intended for use in
preparing tea or spice, clamps used for constructing electrical equipment,
water pipes designed for ornamentation or pipes designed for smoking
tobacco." Rowland said the statute includes "a list of things that are
commonly used as drug paraphernalia ... but the fact is, almost anything
can be used as paraphernalia." Federal officials got tougher on drug
paraphernalia last month.

Attorney General John Ashcroft and the Drug Enforcement Agency announced 50
arrests nationwide on complaints of trafficking in illegal drug
paraphernalia. Operations Pipe Dreams and Headhunter targeted Internet
companies that sold items similar to those found in tobacco stores across
Oklahoma City. "People selling drug paraphernalia are in essence no
different than drug dealers," said John B. Brown III, acting drug agency
administrator. "They are as much a part of drug trafficking as silencers
are a part of criminal homicide." The difference between people arrested in
the federal sweep and those operating shops locally is that the agency
claims "all the defendants knowingly, intentionally and unlawfully sold the
items for use with illegal narcotics." At Martin's shop, nothing is labeled
as being intended for use with drugs and nothing bears images of controlled
substances. "If a customer comes in with a marijuana leaf on his shirt,
he's kicked out," Martin said. Ziggyz Smoke Novelty Shop sells an
assortment of products emblazoned with marijuana leaves, as well as
pseudoephedrine, finger scales and books on how to cook methamphetamine.
"We're not really a smoke shop or a head shop," said one employee at the
store. "We're just a general merchandise store." That kind of distinction
is what makes enforcement so difficult, Rowland said. "It's a really murky
line, but it's an important one," he said. "If we don't push against that
line from time to time, we're going to have these places showing up on
every street corner."