Pubdate: Thu, 01 Mar 2001
Source: Boulder Weekly (CO)
Copyright: 2001 Bolder Weekly
Contact:  690 South Lashley Lane Boulder, CO 80303
Fax: (303) 494-2585
Feedback: http://www.boulderweekly.com/speakingout.html
Website: http://www.boulderweekly.com/
Author: Philip Smith

HEAD SHOP CRACKDOWN

DEA Hits Local Yokels

Call them "head shops," "bong shops," or stores that specialize in smoking 
accessories. Whatever one calls them, stores that sell paraphernalia that 
can be used for marijuana are abundant in Boulder, as are glass blowing 
artists who make pipes.

Local cops have seldom made an issue of it, usually opting not to pre-judge 
the motives of people who buy or sell glass pipes. But customers and 
merchants may have a new concern, namely the federal Drug Enforcement 
Agency, which has been coming down on so-called "head shops" in college towns.

Adam Engleby thought everything was cool in his Big 12 town. His shop, Hemp 
Cat in Iowa City, sold "smoking accessories,"-or bongs, pipes, and rolling 
papers. But the Iowa City Police Department visited regularly, and they 
never had any problem with Hemp Cat's back room. After all, Iowa City is a 
progressive, tolerant college town, and local police reflected the relaxed 
attitude.

The Iowa City Police Department's Sgt. Brotherton has said as much. "We 
don't see [the Hemp Cat] as a major problem," he said. "We weren't paying 
much attention."

But what was an acceptable arrangement for the community wasn't good enough 
for the feds. On February 11, Engleby's home and business were raided by 
teams of civilian-dressed law officers, headed by the Drug Enforcement 
Administration.

"The DEA led the raids," Engelby said. "The only badge I was shown was a 
DEA badge. They had warrants for 'drug paraphernalia' and any sort of 
records, and they took everything. They took our rolling papers, they took 
real tobacco pipes, and, of course, they seized all of our computers-four 
of them, two at the store and two at home. They even took my wife's computer."

"The Iowa City PD never hassled us in six years of business," groaned 
Engleby. "No one ever came in and told us to stop, no one complained."

Engleby finds himself among a growing number of "alternative store" (the 
industry cringes at the term "head shop") owners and operators being rudely 
awakened to the reality of federal drug paraphernalia laws.

Unlike many state and local paraphernalia statutes, which allow for a 
subjective, contextual interpretation of whether a given object is indeed 
drug paraphernalia-sometimes a spoon is only a spoon-federal law is black 
and white: Possession of a bong is a federal offense, and so, of course, is 
sale or manufacture of a bong, or conspiracy to do so. It can get you three 
years in federal prison. And it doesn't matter if the bong has never been 
used or if it is a jewel-encrusted work of art; a bong is a crime. And to 
make things even rosier, since 1990 federal law has made drug paraphernalia 
violators subject to Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization (RICO) 
statutes and money laundering charges, as well.

"It's simple," said head shop defense attorney Robert Vaughan, the 
long-time publisher of an industry newsletter. "If you have a bong, you're 
violating federal law. You can get a license to own a tommy gun, but you 
can't get one to own a bong."

"Stores that have bongs are screwed," the Nashville-based lawyer said. 
"They can't win. The Supreme Court upheld its so-called objective standard 
in US v. Pipes and Things in 1994, and now categories of items are per se 
illegal."

Jerry Clark and Kathy Fiedler, of Des Moines, were already well aware of 
federal paraphernalia laws. Their shop, Daydreams, was raided by the feds 
last year, and they are scarred by the experience.

"We were raided by US Postal Inspectors, the DEA, and local cops and 
sheriff's deputies," Clark said. "And we're barely hanging on now. It's 
hurt us financially; we've lost over $250,000 in inventory and paid out 
lots of money in legal fees. And they're using the RICO act on us, so we're 
facing 10 to 12 years. They've seized my partner's properties under the 
asset forfeiture laws. But all we can do is try to litigate our way out or 
come to a negotiated settlement.

Clark and Fiedler remain in business, but they are angry.

"You have to get mad at the people who created this stupid law," Clark 
says. "But looking at the penalties we face, we're not going to do anything 
to rock the boat."

We don't feel like felons," added Fiedler, more hurt than angry. "These 
people don't have any idea who's smoking-they think it's the kids, but our 
customers are lawyers, preachers, even people from the state Attorney 
General's office. They're nice, average people, but instead of drinking a 
six-pack, they'd prefer to smoke things."

Attorney Vaughan, who is representing Clark and Fiedler, says it would be 
funny were it not for the serious consequences.

"With Operation Pipeline they managed to knock out all the big boys," he 
said. "But all they've created is a whole multi-level cottage industry, and 
lot's of these people don't even know about the federal law, they don't 
have any historical memory of Pipeline, and enforcement is sporadic. What a 
waste of time and resources and peoples' lives. It's as if the feds were 
out arresting the guy smoking a joint on the corner."
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