Pubdate: Tue, 12 Aug 2003 Source: Associated Press (Wire) Copyright: 2003 Associated Press Author: Dan Nephin, Associated Press Writer Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/paraphernalia (paraphernalia) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/ashcroft.htm (Ashcroft, John) PROSECUTORS TARGETING DRUG PARAPHERNALIA, OBSCENITY CASES PITTSBURGH -- For years, so-called head shops and Internet retailers have sold pipes billed as being for legal tobacco products but mostly used, authorities say, to smoke marijuana. Likewise, hardcore pornographic videos have been sold through adult bookstores and the Internet. For years, neither manufacturers, retailers or buyers had much concern about the possibility of arrest. That's been changing, however, as the Department of Justice has begun cracking down on both industries, and the U.S. Attorney for the western district of Pennsylvania has been playing a key role. Mary Beth Buchanan led "Operation Pipe Dreams," in which at least 55 people, including actor and comedian Tommy Chong, were accused of trafficking in illegal drug paraphernalia. Chong, 65, pleaded guilty in federal court in May to conspiring to sell drug paraphernalia and is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 11. Last week, Buchanan announced the indictment of a California couple on charges of distributing pornography that violates federal obscenity laws. "She seems to be in great favor with the administration," said Stanton D. Levenson, Chong's Pittsburgh attorney, who called Buchanan an aggressive prosecutor. She was confirmed in September 2001 and in April was appointed to chair a committee advising U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft on issues ranging from budgets to crime-fighting policies. Buchanan declined to discuss her political philosophy Monday, but said she believed enforcement of federal drug paraphernalia and obscenity laws had been lax in the past. Buchanan said every U.S. attorney was asked by the department to reduce drug trafficking and drug use and her strategy was to target paraphernalia makers and retailers. Obscenity, she said, has "always been an important priority" for Ashcroft. Obscenity cases were little prosecuted during the last administration and Ashcroft has made it known that he would step up prosecutions, said Joseph D. Obenberger, an adult entertainment industry and First Amendment lawyer in Chicago. Buchanan, who also serves on the Advisory Committee's subcommittee on child exploitation and obscenity, said she was interested in the obscenity case and coordinated the investigation with her counterpart in California and U.S. Postal Service investigators. Louis H. Sirkin, the attorney for Robert Zicari and Janet Romano, and their company, Extreme Associates, called the prosecution a test case and said he believes the federal obscenity statute is unconstitutional, based on the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling striking down a Texas sodomy law. He said adults should be able to view any sexually explicit material they wish as long as it involves consenting adults. Levenson said there seems to be a trend toward prosecuting cases outside a defendant's home jurisdiction. In the Chong and Extreme Associates cases, investigators in the Pittsburgh area ordered items and had them shipped to local addresses. "The jurisdictional boundaries seem to be breaking down quite quickly," Levenson said. "The Internet has a lot to do with that." Buchanan denied the suggestion that she was shopping for a conservative jury in the obscenity case, saying the activities depicted on Extreme Associates' videos, including rape and murder, would be found to be obscene anywhere. "The whole point of this case is, there are limits to what can be produced and sold, and this material exceeds those limits," Buchanan said. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom