Pipes, bongs, scales and other “tobacco use only” products in local convenience stores may soon be put out of children’s reach, and sight.
Vancouver and Clark County are considering a new law that would require the various accoutrements of getting high to be located in a portion of the store restricted to those 18 and up.
“The unfortunate perception that could be left with the youth of the community is that the use and sale of these paraphernalia … condones use of the drugs themselves,” City Attorney Ted Gathe told Vancouver City Council in a workshop Monday afternoon.
A survey by anti-drug group PREVENT! Coalition found that 16 percent of nonchain convenience stores in Clark County carry drug paraphernalia, often at the front counter.
But while most agree that removing bongs from the eye-level of 8-year-olds is a good idea, Vancouver Police Chief Cliff Cook also warned the city council that enforcing any new laws will be a burden on his department, which already struggles to keep up its service levels.
“There’s very serious issues around the enforcement aspect,” Cook said. “This is going to take a very low priority for us.”
But Mayor Tim Leavitt said that having a law in place will help push the pipes out of sight, and that he believed stores would comply if a law were put in place.
The ordinance would also make it a crime to possess drug paraphernalia with the intent to smoke or otherwise allow for illegal drug use. It is a civil infraction to sell drug paraphernalia, punishable by a $250 fine. But purveyors skirt the law by noting they can be used for tobacco, Gathe said.
Vancouver and Clark County have plans to enact the same law for consistency. The ZIP code 98661, which spans north from the Columbia River east of Interstate 5, through Minnehaha and north into the unincorporated county, has the highest concentration of stores that sell such products, Gathe said.
The move is supported by organizations including PREVENT! Coalition, the Hands Across the Bridge Project, Sea Mar Health Clinic and Lifeline Connections.
Along with the potential to influence children, the items can serve as a trigger for recovering addicts, Gathe said.
Several councilors wondered why they shouldn’t ban the sale of any drug paraphernalia in all stores.
“This seems like a black and white issue to me,” Leavitt said. “It’s a half-step why just try to hide this stuff from minors? Why not just have an outright ban, or issue special business licenses (for medical marijuana-related sales)?”
Councilor Bart Hansen said that while many associate drug paraphernalia in convenience stores with marijuana, he noted it’s also used for methamphetamine, and that was why he wanted an all-out ban.
Very few Washington cities have an outright ban Tacoma being a notable exception. But Cook and Gathe cautioned that enforcement of a total ban would be too burdensome on police resources.
“I’m uncomfortable with an all-out blanket ban and trying to enforce that,” Councilor Larry Smith said.
Staff members said that the new ordinance could be the testing grounds for taking the laws further in the future.
“I would support a (full) ban as well, but I don’t think it sounds like a reasonable step,” Councilor Jeanne Harris said. “But it’s time to do something. It’s the first step in a series of steps.”
Andrea Damewood: 360-735-4542; http://www.twitter.com/col_cityhall; andrea.damewood@columbian.com.
