Pubdate: Mon, 03 Feb 2003
Source: Herald-Citizen (TN)
Copyright: 2003 Herald-Citizen, a division of Cleveland Newspapers, Inc
Contact:  http://www.herald-citizen.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1501
Author: Mary Jo Denton, Herald-Citizen Staff
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/women.htm (Women)

DRUG ABUSERS USING GLASS ROSE STEMS

Tiny red roses encased in long glass stems -- you see them displayed for 
sale on many store counters. But some who buy them are not interested in 
the flower, police say. Instead, they want the glass stem, which makes a 
good "pipe" for smoking illegal drugs, officers say.

In a case which occurred here on Jan. 31, a Cookeville Police officer 
arrested a woman on drug charges and tacked on a paraphernalia charge based 
on the fact that the woman allegedly went into a convenience store and 
bought a glass stem rose and had it in her possession at the time of arrest.

Angela Ann Wilson, 38, of Little Brook Road, Cookeville, was charged with 
possession of crack cocaine for resale and possession of drug paraphernalia 
in the case, according to a report by Officer Chase Mathis.

Officer Mathis said it began that evening when he noticed a white Chevrolet 
pickup leaving "a suspected drug house."

He said he had watched as a "white female wearing all black got into the 
passenger side of the truck" and he watched as the truck pulled into a 
convenience store on S. Willow Ave.

The woman got out of the truck and went into the store. When she came out 
and started back to the truck, Officer Mathis approached her, he said.

"I advised her that I would like to talk to her, but that she was free to 
leave at any time," the officer's report says.

"She stated that she understood and wanted to know what I wanted. When 
asked where she had been, she stated 'John's' house and that she paid him 
some money she owed him."

Officer Mathis then asked the woman if she had bought a "glass rose stem" 
in the convenience store.

Allegedly, she replied that she had not bought one of the roses.

"She then advised me she was leaving, and I went into the store where the 
clerk advised me that she did buy a glass rose stem," the officer's report 
says.

The glass rose stems are "commonly used to smoke crack cocaine," the report 
says.

A very short time later, Officer Mathis again spotted the woman he had 
questioned, this time at a pay phone at 12th and Willow.

"As I approached her, I told her I knew she had bought a rose stem at that 
store," the report says. "She stated she didn't buy one and started 
emptying her pockets voluntarily."

Allegedly, the woman pulled out of her pocket a plastic bag containing 
three smaller "baggies," each containing "an off-white rock-like substance 
believed to be crack cocaine," the report says.

Officer Mathis then handcuffed the woman and upon searching her, allegedly 
found a glass rose stem.

The officer allegedly also found a store receipt for a "4-pack cleansing 
scrubbers (commonly used as the filler for the pipe)," the report says.

The woman had $67 in cash, and the officer seized that in connection with 
the charges he was about to file against her.

Allegedly, she confessed to buying the crack cocaine "from the residence 
that I saw her leave," the report says.

She was taken to the Putnam jail and booked for possession for resale and 
for possession of paraphernalia, the glass pipe.

A state law passed some years ago by the late Senator Tommy Burks outlawed 
the sale of drug paraphernalia in what was known then as "head shops," 
stores that sold pipes and gongs and other items used by drug abusers.

But apparently, some common items sold today in various kinds of stores can 
be turned into drug paraphernalia and do not come under that law.
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