RAIDS SHUT 3 STORES

Feds Seize Alleged Drug Devices In Pocatello

POCATELLO - Federal authorities and local police raided and shut down three
Pocatello businesses Monday in conjunction with a national crackdown on the
sale of drug paraphernalia.

"We can't go out preaching, 'Say no to drugs,' without taking these types
of instruments off the street," Thomas O'Brien, a spokesman with the Drug
Enforcement Administration office in Seattle, said during a press
conference in Pocatello.

A similar press conference was held in Boise and Attorney General John
Ashcroft and heads of several federal agencies held a related news
conference in Washington.

Federal authorities indicted 55 people on charges of trafficking in illegal
drug paraphernalia, using both traditional stores and the Internet.

In coordinated raids on Monday, officials confiscated thousands of tons of
paraphernalia from companies boasting up to $50 million in annual sales.

The charges are the culmination of two nationwide investigations code-named
Operation Pipe Dreams and Operation Headhunter and include indictments
against national distributors of drug paraphernalia and businesses nationwide.

In Pocatello, DEA representatives, U.S. Marshals and local police agencies
confiscated alleged drug paraphernalia from Pegasus Book Store, 246 W.
Center St., Smokey's Den, 145 S. Third Ave., and 20 After 4, 218 N. Main St.

Arrested in Pocatello were Pegasus employee Michelle Darlene Harrison;
Damon M. Bosquez, manager of Smokey's; Bryan Jason Clum and Travis Clifton
Shafer, co-owners of 20 After 4, and Thomas Owen Calvin, an employee of the
store.

In Idaho Falls, Charisma and Shadow Domain were raided, as were stores in
Burley, Twin Falls, Mountain Home and Boise.

Seventeen owners and employees of so-called "head shops" in Idaho and
eastern Oregon were arrested and accused of offering to sell drug
paraphernalia to undercover agents.

Those charged face up to three years in prison and maximum fines of
$250,000 for each count.

Defendants were charged with conspiracy to sell and offering to sell types
of drug paraphernalia to undercover agents.

All the indictments seek forfeiture of the illegal paraphernalia and the
proceeds from its sale.

According to federal law, drug paraphernalia is defined as any equipment,
product or material primarily intended for use in processing, preparing,
injecting, ingesting or inhaling illegal drugs.

According to police, many of the items were disguised as common objects
such as highlighter pens, lipstick pagers and credit cards to elude
detection as drug paraphernalia and were marketed using code names and symbols.

They can include clay pipes, water pipes, kits to conceal drug use in urine
tests, chillums, bongs and hookahs.

A bong is a sealed chamber partially filled with water, used to draw
marijuana smoke deeply into the lungs; a chillum is a narrow funnel
typically made out of glass or clay, used to smoke marijuana; a hookah is a
water pipe with flexible tubes extending from the main chamber to multiple
mouth pieces.

Ashcroft said the sale of drug paraphernalia has exploded on the Internet,
making it easier for teenagers and young adults to buy it.

"Quite simply, the illegal drug paraphernalia industry has invaded the
homes of families across the country without their knowledge," Ashcroft
said in a statement. "This illegal, billion-dollar industry will no longer
be ignored by law enforcement."

"People selling drug paraphernalia are in essence no different than drug
dealers," said Acting DEA Administrator John Brown. "They are as much a
part of drug trafficking as silencers are a part of criminal homicide.

"These criminals operate a multimillion-dollar enterprise, selling their
paraphernalia in head shops, distributing out of huge warehouses, and using
the worldwide Web as a worldwide paraphernalia market."

"These aren't stores selling a few pipes here and there, nor are they
selling legitimate tobacco-related products," U.S. Attorney Tom Moss said
at the Boise news conference. "These are drug-oriented businesses, and they
represent big money."

"Drug paraphernalia with drug use is like having a gun and ammunition,"
O'Brien said. "You can't use the gun unless you have the ammunition."