Pubdate: Tue, 05 Sep 2006
Source: Burlington Times-News (NC)
Copyright: 2006 The Times-News Publishing Company
Contact: http://www.thetimesnews.com/letter-to-editor/splash.php
Website: http://www.thetimesnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1822
Author: Hannah Winkler
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)

TRINKETS OR TROUBLE?

Available at a convenience store near you, the 4-inch-long rose tubes 
are an obscure novelty gift for a teenager's significant other or for 
a child. And with the ends removed and the fake rose inside taken 
out, the hollow glass tube can be used to smoke rocks of crack 
cocaine. These "rose tubes," "love roses" or "stems" as they've been 
coined, can be found behind the counter at many convenience stores. 
They cost about $2. They are often bought along with a lighter and a 
scouring pad, used as a filter. Several stores around the county 
offer the rose tubes for sale. The pipes have been around for a 
while. And, strictly speaking, they are legal. But since employees 
are selling them from behind the counter, it gives them the illusion 
of being black market wares.

Sheriff's spokesman Randy Jones said deputies have found crack 
addicts in possession of the rose tubes.

"For every one rose we've seen in the pipes, we've seen 15 with 
cocaine residue in it," Jones said.

While there is no doubt in his mind that they are drug paraphernalia, 
Jones said that parents may not know what they are being used for. 
But most store owners know why they are being bought, and it's not a 
gift for your wife.

"It started out as novelty prizes and then crack addicts started 
using them for drugs," a Wilco employee explained. Wilco didn't sell 
them. Some stores' employees seemed reserved when they were 
approached about the topic by the Times-News. Others just clammed up.

One convenience store owner on Webb Avenue said he didn't carry the 
pipes, but, he assured a reporter, he'd be getting them in soon. 
Several other employees at stores around the county said they didn't 
want to talk about why they carried them.

One Burlington store said they didn't sell rose tubes anymore because 
they were illegal. Instead, an employee quickly offered an 
alternative, a glass pipe crudely camouflaged as a ball-point pen.

"It's the same thing - just take out the pen," the employee said. A 
second Burlington store told a reporter they didn't sell them, but 
later recanted. They kept them out of reach close to the cigarettes. 
Many employees said time and time again that they are illegal. But 
that's only if they are found in the vicinity of an illegal 
substance, Jones noted.

Most of the employees who said they didn't sell them could - and 
would - recommend another store in which to purchase the 
paraphernalia. In Durham, members of the anti-drug coalition A New 
East Durham have begun pressuring convenience store owners to stop 
selling the rose tubes. In California and Michigan, the tubes are 
classified as illegal drug paraphernalia.

Although no local organizations have jumped on the bandwagon, 
Burlington Maj. Tim Flack said police are doing their part to keep an 
eye out on those stores selling the supposed contraband.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman