| What
is drug paraphernalia?
Drug paraphernalia
is any legitimate equipment, product, or material that is modified
for making, using, or concealing illegal drugs such as cocaine,
heroin, marijuana, and methamphetamine. Drug paraphernalia generally
falls into two categories:
- User-specific
products
- Dealer-specific
products
User-specific
products
are marketed to drug users to assist them in taking or concealing
illegal drugs. These products include certain pipes, smoking masks,
bongs, cocaine freebase kits, marijuana grow kits, roach clips,
and items such as hollowed out cosmetic cases or fake pagers used
to conceal illegal drugs.
Dealer-specific
products
are used by drug traffickers for preparing illegal drugs for distribution
at the street level. Items such as scales, vials, and baggies fall
into this category. Drug paraphernalia does not include any items
traditionally used with tobacco, like pipes and rolling papers.
What
the law says
Under the Federal
Drug Paraphernalia Statute, which is part of the Controlled Substances
Act, it is illegal to possess, sell, transport, import, or export
drug paraphernalia as defined. The law gives specific guidance on
determining what constitutes drug paraphernalia. Many states have
also enacted their own laws prohibiting drug paraphernalia.
Drug
Paraphernalia Sales
With the rise
of the drug culture in the United States in the 1960s and 1970s,
the country began to see the appearance of “head shops,”
which were stores that sold a wide range of drug paraphernalia.
While some of the paraphernalia was crude and home-made, much was
being commercially manufactured to cater to a fast-growing market.
Enterprising individuals even sold items openly in the street, until
anti-paraphernalia laws in the 1980s eventually ended such blatant
sales. Today, law enforcement faces another challenge. With the
advent of the Internet, criminals have greatly expanded their illicit
sales to a worldwide market for drug paraphernalia. For example,
in a recent law enforcement effort, Operation Pipedreams, the 18
companies targeted accounted for more than a quarter of a billion
dollars in retail drug paraphernalia sales annually. Typically,
such illicit businesses operate retail stores as well as websites
posing as retailers of legitimate tobacco accessories when in reality
the products are intended for the illegal drug trade.
What
You Should Know
Drug paraphernalia
is often marketed specifically to youth—with colorful logos,
celebrity pictures, and designs like smiley faces on the products—the
items are meant to look harmless and belie the dangers of taking
controlled substances. Other paraphernalia like magic markers can
conceal pipes, and small, hand-painted blown glass items look more
like pretty trinkets than pipes or stash containers. Parents need
to be aware that these kinds of products often conceal drug use.
Click
here for federal law regarding drug paraphernalia>>
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