STOP THE DRUG PARAPHERNALIA CHARADE

Who's Kidding Whom?

Since the psychedelic days of the 1960s counterculture, shop owners have
winked at their customers while telling police the water pipes and bongs
arrayed on their shelves are strictly for smoking tobacco.

It's a game that's been played for years in communities throughout the country.

But in Dover, it's a game the police aren't playing. The department is
trying to stop one merchant who markets such wares from selling them in the
city.

The action the department has taken of confiscating merchandise police have
defined as drug paraphernalia would set a legal precedent in the state and
help put so-called "head shops" out of business throughout New Hampshire.

Not surprisingly, Dover's action is being challenged in court by the shop
owner whose merchandise had been confiscated.

A ruling by the court in the department's favor would finally give law
enforcement authorities throughout the state a new tool for controlling
substance abuse.

The strategy to confiscate water pipes, bongs and other forms of
paraphernalia has been tricky in the past for many communities.

Law enforcement officials hear the same story from all shop owners. They
simply tell officers their products are not intended for the abuse of
illegal substances.

No one is naive enough to swallow that line. And even if some shop owners
really believe that themselves, that doesn't stop those who use drugs from
buying the equipment to get high. But the hitch in the past has been in
proving to a court that such devices are, indeed, used primarily for the
consumption of illicit drugs.

That's where the Dover Police Department's strategy is breaking new ground.

Authorities have used expert testimony from members of the state Attorney
General's Drug Task Force, educators, drug chemists from the state police
laboratory in Concord and the executive director of the Southeast New
Hampshire Alcohol and Drug Abuse Services Center.

Undercover officers also gathered evidence prior to issuing a warrant to
confiscate the items all the experts identified as being used solely for
the purpose of smoking drugs.

Most people know when they see a 3-foot-long bong that it's used for
smoking marijuana and other illegal drugs. Nobody uses such a device for
smoking tobacco.

It's a no-brainer, and it's about time the issue is being taken to the
courts for a review.

No doubt, proving the intent of the store owners who stick to the typical
story line will remain problematic for prosecutors seeking to make charges
stick.

But if police can at least get the apparatus of drug abuse off the shelves,
then they have another means to discourage drug abuse, especially among the
young people of a community.

Drug paraphernalia shouldn't be difficult to identify for what it really is
- - in the store or in court. After all, if it quacks like a duck and walks
like a duck ...