Police criticise legal loophole

A legal loophole which allows shops, including at least two in Dunedin, to sell drug paraphernalia is normalising drug use and undermining efforts to stop the abuse of drugs, police say.

Dunedin police area commander Inspector Dave Campbell said implements such as cannabis pipes, roach clips, bongs and pipes for smoking methamphetamine were easily available in shops, and would continue to be, unless the law was tightened.

Methcon drug education group director Mike Sabin said it was "absolute lunacy" people could walk into a shop and buy a utensil for smoking an illegal drug.

"It legitimises these drug implements like any other retail product.

"You can't walk into a shop and buy cannabis, so why should you be able to walk into a shop and buy something for smoking cannabis?"

This is certainly an anomaly in the law and it needs to be tightened. I have always maintained that it should be."

Under the Misuse of Drugs Act, it is illegal to import or sell cannabis or methamphetamine utensils, but retailers circumvent the law by getting the products from local glass blowers and by selling them as ornaments or vases, for example.

Mr Sabin, a former police detective, said P pipes were sold as such things as flower vases and bubble blowers.

They were made of flameproof material with a bowl and stem leading off it.

Cosmic Corner chain owner and managing director Mark Carswell, of Christchurch, said his shops, including the one in Dunedin, sold pipes, which could be used for tobacco or "herbal tobacco", and bongs, which he admitted were sold as vases.

He said he was open about the fact his shops sold bongs under this description because of the legal loophole which meant retailers got away with it.

"It is a bit silly, really," he said.

His shops were more "hippy-based", rather than catering for the hardened drug scene and he did not sell P utensils.

He generally had a good relationship with police, he said. His "social responsibility" resulted in an R18 policy for all his shops.

His belief people should have the freedom of choice was behind the decision to sell cannabis-related paraphernalia, he said.

"We have got to stand behind the counter and feel comfortable with what we do.

People come in and ask for glass P pipes, but we turn them away," Mr Carswell said.

Another shop in central Dunedin advertises an extensive range of pipes and glassware including those which resembled P pipes, but management could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Insp Campbell said it was "frustrating" for police as they knew most people who bought a pipe or bong were buying it for illegal reasons.

"But we can't prove an offence the way the Act is at the moment," he said.