CONFISCATION GOES TOO FAR

Regarding the Oct. 29 editorial "Stop The Drug Paraphernalia Charade": the
author applauds the police for confiscating legal products from a Dover
smokeshop.

These products, like those sold in thousands of smokeshops around the
country, can potentially be used to aid in the consumption of both legal
and illegal drugs, and thus the Dover police are attempting to classify
these items as "drug paraphernalia."

Let me tell you why this is a bad idea, and it has nothing to do with
drugs, legal or otherwise. Similar claims about drug paraphernalia have
been made recently in a Louisiana court case against the owners of a
nightclub. Some of the items that the prosecutors, and the DEA, wished to
classify as drug paraphernalia included glowsticks (yes, the same ones that
you'll see small children carrying for safety on Halloween), cool rooms for
relaxing (because drug users purportedly enjoy a place to rest), and - get
this - bottled water. Yes, drug users drink bottled water, therefore,
bottled water is drug paraphernalia.

How far do we let this go? The answer is, we don't. We admit, right now,
that everything that smokeshops sell is completely and 100 percent legal.
If you want to pass a law outlawing pipes, then you can arrest them, but
not before.