U.S. INDICTS 55 IN BIGGEST-EVER DRUG-PARAPHERNALIA CRACKDOWN

WASHINGTON - Federal authorities on Monday charged 55 people with
trafficking drug paraphernalia in what is believed to be the largest-ever
crackdown on dealers of marijuana bongs, cocaine pipes and other tools.

In coordinated raids across the country, authorities said they confiscated
thousands of tons of drug paraphernalia worth tens of millions of dollars.
They arrested distributors accused of supplying more than half the nation's
supply of drug equipment.

Many of the distributors in the $1 billion-a-year industry openly peddled
their products on the Internet, in catalogs and at retail stores, commonly
known as head shops.

Some of the gear, like "sneaky" marijuana pipes tucked into Hi-liter
markers and bongs adorned with smiley faces, were marketed to youngsters
online where they could easily make anonymous purchases, authorities said.

The charges carry a maximum of three years in prison and fines of $250,000.

The probe began in Pittsburgh after authorities discovered that local shops
being used by a drug dealer to buy products to cut and repackage cocaine
and heroin were being supplied by large national companies using the Internet.

The coordinated busts on Monday were led by the Drug Enforcement
Administration in conjunction with other federal agencies.

Some of the distributors ran sophisticated high-volume operations,
operating out of huge warehouses with on-site glassblowing facilities that
allowed them to create their own bongs and pipes, according to U.S.
Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan of the western district of Pennsylvania. One of
the companies busted Monday pulled in annual sales of $50 million a year,
she said.

Buchanan said the investigation put the nation's largest suppliers out of
business.

A federal grand jury in Pittsburgh, Pa., handed up 17 indictments against
27 defendants as part of "Operation Pipe Dreams." Ten of those indictments
were against national distributors.

"Operation Headhunter," run out of Des Moines, Iowa, brought down national
distributors in Michigan, California and Texas with four indictments
charging nine people.

The remaining 19 defendants were charged in other states.

Federal authorities were in the process Monday of obtaining court orders to
shut down 11 Internet sites with names like puffpipes.com. Visitors to
those sites will be redirected to a DEA website.

Ashcroft refused to say if those who attempt to access the sites would be
traced or investigated.

He said the overall investigation is ongoing and that more arrests and
website restraints are possible.

Acting DEA Administrator John Brown said there was no real difference
between those selling drugs and those selling the products that make it
possible to use them.

"They are as much a part of drug trafficking as silencers are a part of
criminal homicide," Brown said.

Federal law makes it a crime to sell products intended mainly for the use
of illegal drugs.