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Ban on crack pipes is a hazy issue
By Hempology | March 26, 2008
Mon, 17 Mar 2008
Calgary Sun, The (CN AB)
Michael Platt
ALDERMAN WANTS TO GANJA UP ON HEAD SHOPS BUT OWNERS DOOBIEOUS
Like trying to swat mosquitoes with a hammer, there’s bound to be collateral damage if city council pushes ahead with an attempt to ban crack pipes in Calgary.
Ban one pipe, and you ban them all — that’s the fear of the local cannabis community, as city council debates the issue today.
That aldermen would consider prohibiting paraphernalia has Calgary bong and pipe purveyors uptight — they say politicians are meddling in a perfectly legal business.
And they’re right, technically.
But morally right? At least one politician, Ald. Ric McIver, says he determined to shut down the business of supplying tools to drug users, no matter what’s being smoked.
“They can cry if they want to, and it may be legal, but it’s not good for the city. We owe it to our young people to try and stop this,” said Ald. Ric McIver.
“Making drug paraphernalia available to young people is not serving any higher purpose in society.”
The recommendation to aldermen says city council should order a crackdown using existing licensing laws.
If police connect narcotic use with a store — say someone caught smoking drugs with a pipe that can be traced to a retailer — the city can yank the store’s business licence. For the retailer, it would mean serious fines, or even a shut-down for repeat offences.
The issue was originally raised in a bid to punish downtown convenience stores openly selling glass tubes, which are useful only to crack smokers. But McIver says all paraphernalia shops should be punished, and he wants the city to use every tool at its disposal to make life miserable for suppliers.
He plans to push for an amendment to that effect, asking city officials to draft a bylaw capable of smashing the paraphernalia trade.
“If we can’t make it illegal, we can certainly make it difficult for them,” he said.
“And if regulating product sales is beyond the scope of a municipal council, we need to lobby other levels of government for stronger laws.”
It’s a hazy issue, and not just because one side in the debate has a habit of burning organic matter and inhaling the smoke though elaborate glassware.
Of course, we’re talking about tobacco — because despite the plethora of cannabis literature and pot-leafed merchandise scattered throughout modern head shops, the pipes sold are officially meant for tobacco.
That’s officially as in approved by Revenue Canada: the shops are taxed the same way as the local tobacconist who sells a tin full of Dutch cavendish.
And that’s why the paraphernalia crackdown is going to be a ticklish issue, one that could drag the City of Calgary into an expensive legal battle with shops like the Hemporium and Next Level.
“If it results in charges, we’ll fight them in court, and then we’ll go back to the city with anything we can get — malicious prosecution, damages, et cetera,” said Tim Person, co-owner of the Hemporium.
The Criminal Code of Canada prohibits the sale of “instruments or literature for illicit drug use,” which explains why stores like the Hemporium stick to the tobacco story.
But Person doesn’t hide his pro-pot leanings either, and he says McIver is trying to use bylaws to change ideals.
“Trying to legislate morality doesn’t work,” he said.
“No one under the age of 65 is going to believe a shop like mine promotes drug use — people have already made that decision long before they come in here.”
As much as he is in favour of legalized cannabis, Person is against drugs like crack, and he says his shop will never sell anything that would make smoking cocaine easier.
That’s a stance echoed by Kent Iwaniuk, who works at The Next Level in Forest Lawn.
He says blaming legal pipe sales for all drug problems is unfair.
“If I go and buy a gun and shoot someone, they don’t charge the store, they charge the person,” he said.
A four-month investigation saw police seizing 3,000 pipes from a number of Calgary head shops last year, one of which closed permanently after marijuana and hash oil was found onsite.
At the Hemporium, Person said a paraphernalia store’s best defence is to stay squeaky clean — and he challenges the city to find him doing something illegal.
“Instead of changing the law, they should just send undercover agents around from time to time,” he said.
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