'PIPE DREAMS' FEDERAL SWEEP NETS 3 ARCATANS

Federal drug enforcement agents served three search warrants and made
three arrests in Arcata Monday as part of a nationwide operation
targeting distributors and manufacturers of drug paraphernalia.

The owners of 101 North Glass and the Glass House at 550 S. G St. were
arrested on federal indictments around 6 a.m.

The three arrests were part of the federal Drug Enforcement
Administration's "Operation Pipe Dreams," in which 55 people were
charged across the country in various operations. In all, nearly three
dozen indictments were issued.

Ryan Teurfs, Jason Vrbas and Gabriel Watson, all 29 and from Arcata,
were booked into the Humboldt County Jail. The Humboldt County Jail
said the three were not bailable. They are scheduled to be arraigned
in federal court in Eureka around midday today.

The Humboldt County Drug Task Force said some of its agents and
deputies from the Humboldt County Sheriff's Department assisted the
DEA agents by providing security while the warrants were served.

A Eureka smoke shop manager who did not want to be named said 101
North Glass is a wholesale manufacturer and distributor of glass pipes.

A U.S. Department of Justice press release said all who are indicted
under Operation Pipe Dreams have been charged with conspiracy to sell
and offering to sell various types of drug paraphernalia.

Attorney General John Ashcroft and acting DEA administrator John B.
Brown III announced the indictments at a Monday press conference in
Washington, D.C.

People were also indicted in Pennsylvania, Oregon, Florida, Arizona,
Southern California and the San Francisco Bay area.

The investigation was led by the DEA along with the U.S. Marshals,
Secret Service, Customs Service and Postal Inspection Service.

"With the advent of the Internet, the illegal drug paraphernalia
industry has exploded," Ashcroft said. "The drug paraphernalia
business is now accessible in anyone's home with a computer and
Internet access."

A former employee of 101 North Glass who did not want to be named said
the company employed around 40 people and never sold its product over
the Internet, just through catalogs.

The 101 North Glass website requires a visitor to be 18 years old
before they can enter.

Phone calls to the business Monday were answered by a message saying
it was closed.

The Eureka smoke shop manager said he heard of the arrests about an
hour after they occurred and that his shop has gotten calls from smoke
shops across the state asking if his store had been shut down.

"Humboldt County has a large number of glass blowers that now don't
know if their jobs are legal or secure," the manager said. "This
scares everyone."

Bongs, marijuana pipes and roach clips were named on a U.S. Department
of Justice list of products considered to be primarily used for
ingesting or inhaling controlled substances. Miniature scales,
miniature spoons and cocaine freebase kits were also on the list.

"I've never seen a 'marijuana' pipe,'" the manager said. "A pipe is a
pipe, no matter what you put in it."

The shop manager said the issue with selling the pipes has always been
intended use, not implied.

"When someone walks out of here with a pipe, as far as we're
concerned, it's for tobacco use," the manager said.

The DEA doesn't see it that way.

"People selling drug paraphernalia are in essence no different than
drug dealers," Brown said.

"I find myself a whole lot different than a drug dealer," the manager
said.

Teurfs, Vrbas and Watson will be arraigned at the federal courthouse
in Eureka today at 11:30 a.m. If convicted of the charges they face up
to three years in prison and/or $250,000 in fines.