U.S. Cracks Down on Illegal Drug Paraphernalia Sales

By: Deborah Charles

Attorney General John Ashcroft on Monday announced 55 people have been charged with trafficking in illegal drug paraphernalia as part of a nationwide crackdown.

Ashcroft said selling drug paraphernalia is a billion-dollar industry and sales have skyrocketed through purchases over the Internet.

Of 17 indictments returned in the investigation, ten are against national distributors of drug paraphernalia and seven involve businesses located in western Pennsylvania, he told reporters at a Justice Department news conference.

Ashcroft said drug paraphernalia sales had soared with the advent of the Internet, which allows easy access to anyone with a computer.

"In homes across America we know that children and young adults are the fastest-growing population of Internet users", he said. "The illegal drug paraphernalia industry has invaded the homes of families across the country without the knowledge of those families."

The defendants have been charged with conspiracy to sell and offering to sell various types of drug paraphernalia. The equipment includes miniature scales, substances for diluting raw narcotics, bongs, marijuana pipes, roach clips, and cocaine freebase kits.

Ashcroft said the defendants are alleged to have knowingly and intentionally sold the items for use with illegal narcotics. Many of the items were disguised as common objects like lipsticks or hi-lighter pens, used by students to elude detection as drug paraphernalia.

The defendants face a maximum sentence of three years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Officials said two investigations had put 11 illicit "dot-com" companies out of business. John Brown, acting chief of the Drug Enforcement Administration, said: "There are 11 dot-coms that are dot-gone."

He said sellers of drug paraphernalia were just as responsible as others for the illegal drug trade. "They are as much a part of drug trafficking as silencers are a part of criminal homicide", Brown said.

Ashcroft said a number of websites involving the drug paraphernalia have been changed so people who attempt to access them will instead get the webpage of the DEA and will learn that the site has been restrained under court order.

He said the government would seek a court order to do the same thing for an additional 15 or 20 websites over the next 30 days.