Selling Drug Paraphernalia Could Cost Merchants

The Charlotte City Council is considering a new way to attack the drug trade: Going after stores selling items that people use to smoke crack or to abuse other illegal drugs.

City Council member Malachi Greene has proposed an ordinance that would impose fines against businesses that sell drug paraphernalia. The ordinance would also allow city officials to seek a court order forbidding stores from selling drug paraphernalia and allow officers to confiscate any outlawed items.

Greene began work on the ordinance at the request of the neighborhood anti-drug group Fighting Back, which launched a campaign last year against convenience stores selling novelty glass vials that some drug abusers were using to smoke crack and snort cocaine.

"What I think this will do is alert communities that we are on our guard and they don't have to struggle to enforce this kind of thing," said Hattie Anthony, director of Fighting Back.

State law already prohibits possessing, advertising, manufacturing and delivering items identified as drug paraphernalia. But the charge is a misdemeanor and is seldom a high priority in criminal courts, a memo presented to council members at their weekend retreat said.

The proposed ordinance would impose a $100 fine for each offense, with another $100 fine imposed for each day the paraphernalia continues to be sold. Because it's a civil penalty, it requires less proof than a criminal citation, said City Attorney Mac McCarley, who is helping draft the ordinance.

The proposal is similar to ordinances adopted in Minneapolis, Reno, Nev., and Anchorage, Alaska. The City Council's public safety committee is expected to debate it at a meeting next month.

"I think it sounds like an idea that we need to seriously consider," said Council member Don Reid, who chairs the public safety committee. "So long as we can clearly identify, without being too general, what we're talking about."

Greene said Fighting Back is working with police to design a display board of items commonly used for illegal drugs, including glass vials, syringes and certain kinds of plastic bags. The proposed ordinance also lists items such as roach clips for holding marijuana cigarettes, scales, miniature cocaine spoons and other items used for measuring or mixing cocaine.

Last January, some residents announced plans to boycott convenience stores selling 4-inch glass vials, priced at $4.99 each, containing small artificial roses. Officials with Fighting Back say the vials were available only in stores in west Charlotte near neighborhoods with active cocaine trades.

Many stores voluntarily pulled the items, and Anthony said the group has not received any recent complaints about them.

Five Points Discount Beverage on Rozzelles Ferry Road was among the stores that agreed to stop selling the vials. "As long as it is helpful for the community, we're happy to not sell it," said co-owner Sisay Zerihun.

But Zerihun worried the ordinance might be used to unfairly single out certain businesses that could have legitimate reasons for selling certain items.

"Instead of looking for a small business like us, it's better to tell the people who distribute the product," he said. If neighbors raise concerns about specific items in the future, he will cooperate, he said.

But the ordinance is designed to target businesses that may not be so cooperative, Greene and others say.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police spokesman Keith Bridges said officers

will likely welcome the measure.

"We are glad to have that as another tool in the continuing efforts to enforce drug (laws)," he said.

Copyright 1999 The Charlotte Observer

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