Pubdate: Thu, 10 Nov 2005
Source: Hartford Advocate (CT)
Copyright: 2005 New Mass. Media, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.hartfordadvocate.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/182
Author: Adam Bulger

WHERE THERE'S SMOKE

A New Store In New Britain Is Trying To Change The Way We Think About 
Head Shops

A few daisies would look nice in these "glass vases." Larry Goodwin, 
the owner of Snot Locker in New Britain, hates the term "head shop." 
Standing behind the counter of his store, among his stock of organic 
hemp balm, scales, fake soda can stash spots, pipes, bongs and 
hookahs, Goodwin insisted that he isn't running a head shop. And, 
surprisingly, I found myself agreeing with him.

"It's a lifestyle store. People call it a head shop, but it's so much 
more than that," Goodwin said. "I don't know many other head shops 
that sell soap."

And soap is indeed for sale at Snot Locker. Along with other 
seemingly nonintuitive items like chimes, hundreds of cult DVDs 
(ranging from Kieslowski's color trilogy to PCU ) and CDs from local 
artists. The store, which is named for an antiquated nickname for a 
nose and opened in October, is brightly lit, playfully themed and upbeat.

"It's not your father's smoke shop," Goodwin said.

Entering a store like Snot Locker usually entails some weird parsing 
of language. A lot of really good, direct colloquial terms need to be 
discarded. Several words have to be avoided at the buyer's peril, 
like "bong," "marijuana" or even "bowl." That's not an issue at Snot Locker.

"It's a bong," Goodwin said with a shrug after I asked him what I was 
supposed to call one of the three-foot-tall cylinders with bowls 
affixed to them.

Broadly speaking, the legality of selling items like these is 
predicated on intent. Smoking devices are considered objects with 
many uses, including, but not limited to, illegal ones. For example, 
a multi-chambered water pipe could be used for its nominal purpose, 
smoking tobacco, or as a vase, or it could even be dropped off a 
building to watch it break.

"Do you go into Walgreens and say, 'I'm going to buy some toilet 
paper to wipe my ass with'?" Andy Snyder, manager for Hartford smoke 
accessory emporium Stairway Thru Heaven said.

Keith Stroup, an attorney for the National Organization for the 
Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), said small-business owners should 
put up signs advising that none of the items they sell are to be used 
for illegal substances.

The federal law and individual states' laws governing paraphernalia 
are different. In 1994, the Supreme Court ruled in the case Posters 
'n' Things, Ltd., et al., Petitioners v. United States that the 
government could impose a "subjective standard" about what items 
could be considered paraphernalia. The case ruling also defined 
specific paraphernalia items, such as pipes, wired cigarette papers 
and bongs, as illegal paraphernalia.

Until 2003 the law was rarely enforced. In 2003 and 2004 the John 
Ashcroft-led Justice Department launched "Operation Pipe Dreams" and 
"Operation Headhunter," which specifically targeted drug-accessory 
sales. In February 2003, 55 businesses and individuals were charged 
with trafficking in illegal drug paraphernalia, including iconic 
comedic actor Tommy Chong, who served nine months in prison.

Stroup said while the federal law is in place, the individual states 
generally decide how enthusiastically it'll be enforced. 
Connecticut's enforcement has been more relaxed.

Connecticut State Police public information officer Sgt. J. Paul 
Vance confirmed that merchant sales of smoking tools is legal.

"If you have a water pipe, it can be used legally. So in and of 
itself, it's not illegal," Vance said. However, paraphernalia charges 
do exist in Connecticut. If someone is found with an illegal 
substance and a method of delivering that substance, paraphernalia 
charges follow.

"If someone just has cigarette papers, it's not paraphernalia. But if 
we find them with marijuana and paraphernalia, we charge them," Vance said.

Tracy Beaudoin, who recently took over 32-year-old Stairway Thru 
Heaven after working as a manager there for 11 years, said that she 
has never had any legal trouble at the store.

"Everything here is legal," Beaudoin said.

The store used to post a list of forbidden words, but Beaudoin said 
that the sign is no longer necessary. "It's just common knowledge. If 
you use those terms we'll kick you out. It happens on a daily basis," she said.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman