Pubdate: Wed, 07 Jan 2004 Source: Fayetteville Observer (NC) Copyright: 2004 Fayetteville Observer Contact: http://www.fayettevillenc.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/150 TOO CONVENIENT Drug paraphernalia shouldn't be available Sometimes, as we learned this week, convenience stores are too convenient, for all the wrong reasons. As a front-page story by Observer reporter Matt Leclercq showed Tuesday, many local convenience stores carry items commonly used by addicts to ingest their drugs. Crack users, for example, buy tiny roses in glass tubes, toss out the roses and use the tubes as crack pipes. They also buy razor blades, dime-sized filter screens and scouring sponges, all of which have a role in drug sales and the crack smoker's rituals. In some cases, it appears no accident that the convenience store stocks these items. It's clear that at least some of the store clerks know exactly what their customers have in mind when they buy them. Worse, some of the stores actually display the items together, for the addicts' greater convenience. The practice is more than a little discouraging for police. Fayetteville police Sgt. David Pait puts it this way: "It's very frustrating when you put your life on the line every day and go out to try to make a dent in illegal drugs, and you walk into any convenience store which seems to be promoting items that are used for drugs." Especially frustrating because the items have other legal uses and thus can't be banned by law. They only can be considered drug paraphernalia if they are specifically marketed as such. While there may be little that the police can do, the community can help discourage or eliminate the practice. In Seattle, citizen groups have staged boycotts and persuaded convenience store chains to stop selling drug-related items, especially the tubed roses. Surveying convenience stores would be a good project for local neighborhood-watch groups. If management is informed of the likely drug-related uses of some store merchandise and refuses to stop selling it, boycotts may be in order. While it's difficult, nearly impossible, for a community to eliminate drug abuse, it's certainly possible to act against businesses that are making it easy for our kids to use drugs and encouraging criminal activities in our neighborhoods. - --- MAP posted-by: Josh