55 Charged With Selling Drug Gear Online

Tue Feb 25, 7:36 AM ET Add White House - AP Cabinet & State to My Yahoo!



By CURT ANDERSON, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Federal authorities charged 55 people with trafficking in illegal drug paraphernalia in an investigation they said targeted the nation's biggest Internet distributors of marijuana bongs, crack pipes and other drug abuse gear.



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55 Charged in Drug Paraphernalia Sales

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In coordinated raids on Monday, officials confiscated "thousands and thousands of tons" of paraphernalia from companies boasting up to $50 million in annual sales, said Mary Beth Buchanan, U.S. attorney in Pittsburgh whose office is leading the "Operation Pipe Dreams" investigation along with the Drug Enforcement Administration.



"No one would possibly use these items for smoking tobacco," Buchanan said at a Justice Department (news - web sites) news conference.



Attorney General John Ashcroft (news - web sites) said the sale of drug paraphernalia has exploded on the Internet, making it easier for teenagers and young adults to buy it. The items often are disguised as such things as lipstick cases to escape detection and are marketed under code names and symbols.



"Quite simply, the illegal drug paraphernalia industry has invaded the homes of families across the country without their knowledge," Ashcroft said.



Organizations advocating the legalization of marijuana accused Ashcroft of grandstanding.



"At a time when the rest of the country is worried about terrorism, this attorney general is going after people who sell pipes," said Keith Stroup, the founder of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana laws. "Surely he has something better to do with his time."



Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, suggested the busts were aimed at scoring political points against a perceived counterculture.



"It would be more logical — although I'm not suggesting this — to prosecute people who sell beer mugs because of the poison consumed in them," he said.



The government was obtaining court orders to shut down 11 Internet sites that peddle the paraphernalia, with visitors to those web sites redirected to a DEA site that cites the law against sale of such items. The Internet sites go by names such as Smokelab.com, Aheadcase.com and puffpipes.com, according to the Justice Department.



"This is a devastating blow to the drug paraphernalia business," said John Walters, the White House drug czar.



The charges were brought in federal grand jury indictments in Pittsburgh against 27 people, in Des Moines, Iowa against nine people and in several other states against 19 others. The investigation stretches from Oregon and California to Texas, Michigan, South Carolina and Pennsylvania.



Federal law makes it a crime to sell products mainly intended for the use of illegal drugs, including such things as bongs, marijuana pipes, "roach" clips, miniature spoons and scales. Those charged with selling and conspiring to sell such items face up to three years on prison, maximum fines of $250,000 and forfeiture of warehouses, machinery and other property.



Most of those charged were allegedly involved in large-scale manufacturing and distribution of the gear, although there were some individual "head shops" targeted mainly in western Pennsylvania, Buchanan said.



A search warrant in the Iowa probe, dubbed "Operation Headhunter," turned up more than $2 million in illegal paraphernalia, authorities said.



The investigation was led by the DEA along with the U.S. Marshals, Secret Service, Customs Service and Postal Inspection Service. Six U.S. attorneys were also involved.



"People selling drug paraphernalia are in essence no different than drug dealers," said John Brown, acting DEA chief. "They are as much a part of drug trafficking as silencers are a part of criminal homicide."



Ashcroft went out of this way to praise the DEA, which was criticized earlier this year in a White House budget office assessment of government performance as being "unable to demonstrate its progress" in the war on illegal drugs.

"This is a great victory for the DEA," Ashcroft said.