Alesus and I left Pagoda in Dinkytown and noticed a sign on the sidewalk for a new sublevel store. We went down stairs and discovered that it was a Head Shop/drug paraphernalia store:
It had bongs, bowls, digital scales, scales that looked like cellphones, cutting boards… you know, stuff that you’d think would be covered under a drug paraphernalia statute.
Alesus has a theory that the store operates because it strictly bans any mention of drugs. And the store did have little signs posted around that said something to the effect of “Not for tobacco use, or any illegal use. If you mention drugs you’ll get kicked out.”
I had the hardest time resisting the urge to walk up to the cashier and ask what legal use all this crap has. Edgy-table decorations? Potpourri?
2 Comments
emily
July 4, 2012 at 9:04 amUhh cause weed is awesome thats the use.
tony
September 25, 2012 at 3:37 amDrug paraphernalia is equipment, products and materials of any kind which are used, intended for use, or designed for use, in planting, propagating, cultivating, growing, harvesting, manufacturing, compounding, converting, producing, processing, preparing, testing, analyzing, packaging, repackaging, storing, concealing, containing, injecting, ingesting, inhaling, or otherwise introducing into the human body a controlled substance.
The following is an example of a federal law dealing with drug paraphernalia:
The term ”drug paraphernalia” means any equipment, product, or material of any kind which is primarily intended or designed for use in manufacturing, compounding, converting, concealing, producing, processing, preparing, injecting, ingesting, inhaling, or otherwise introducing into the human body a controlled substance, possession of which is unlawful under this subchapter. It includes items primarily intended or designed for use in ingesting, inhaling, or otherwise introducing marijuana, cocaine, hashish, hashish oil, PCP, or amphetamines into the human body, such as :
metal, wooden, acrylic, glass, stone, plastic, or ceramic pipes with or without screens, permanent screens, hashish heads, or punctured metal bowls;
water pipes
carburetion tubes and devices
smoking and carburetion masks
roach clips: meaning objects used to hold burning material, such as a marijuana cigarette, that has become too small or too short to be held in the hand
miniature spoons with level capacities of one-tenth cubic centimeter or less
chamber pipes
carburetor pipes
electric pipes
air-driven pipes
chillums
bongs
ice pipes or chillers
wired cigarette papers; or
cocaine freebase kits
Matters considered in determination of what constitutes drug paraphernalia:
In determining whether an item constitutes drug paraphernalia, in addition to all other logically relevant factors, the following may be considered:
instructions, oral or written, provided with the item concerning its use
descriptive materials accompanying the item which explain or depict its use
national and local advertising concerning its use
the manner in which the item is displayed for sale
whether the owner, or anyone in control of the item, is a legitimate supplier of like or related items to the community, such as a licensed distributor or dealer of tobacco products
direct or circumstantial evidence of the ratio of sales of the item(s) to the total sales of the business enterprise
the existence and scope of legitimate uses of the item in the community; and
expert testimony concerning its use
Exemptions
This section shall not apply to :
1. any person authorized by local, State, or Federal law to manufacture, possess, or distribute such items; or
2. any item that, in the normal lawful course of business, is imported, exported, transported, or sold through the mail or by any other means, and traditionally intended for use with tobacco products, including any pipe, paper, or accessory.
very nice shop…… very clean…..