Problem Is Drugs, Not The Apparatus

If passing laws always fixed problems, life after legislation would be trouble-free.

But laws not only don’t necessarily fix problems, sometimes they have no bearing at all on the issues that give rise to them.

Take, for example, Washington state’s newly toughened law dealing with the sale of so-called drug paraphernalia. Before the 1998 session of the Legislature it was illegal to sell items such as water pipes (or bongs) and roach clips if the retailer knew they would be used for illicit purposes. Now dealers who peddle such merchandise can be charged with a crime regardless of whether they know how it will be used.

Drug abuse is a serious problem. If society can identify the causes of substance abuse, then legitimate and constitutional methods of eradicating them - especially as they affect youngsters - should be pursued at all costs.

But the popularity of drug paraphernalia is a result, not a cause, of drug abuse. Abusers don’t indulge in drug use just because they have some drug paraphernalia lying around going to waste. Eliminating the commercial availability of water pipes will not make a dent in illegal drug use.

What it will accomplish is to give lawmakers who voted for it - clear majorities in both the House and Senate - campaign fodder for this election year. They will boast about having done something about drugs, a proven sales pitch for winning voters.

Actually, a strict reading of the new law would make the sale of paper clips or tweezers, items commonly used to hold the stub of a marijuana cigarette, illegal. (Office Depot, watch out.) But authorities won’t enforce the law across the board, they’ll apply it selectively, a risky practice if you care about civil liberties.

Ultimately, if either the law or the enforcement method turns out to be invalid on constitutional grounds, not only will nothing have been done to reduce drug use but respect for the law may have been eroded in the bargain. For that matter, a counterfeit response could even create complacency and temper lawmakers’ motivation to take authentic action against drugs.

As it is, state legislators have outlawed not only the possession but even the sale of drug paraphernalia, even though there is nothing inherently evil in the paraphernalia itself, only in a use to which it might be put.

The real target should be the drugs whose use and availability are unlikely to be affected in any way by the stricter law. Meanwhile, although the sale of cigarettes to anyone younger than 18 is illegal in Washington, the possession and use of them by minors isn’t - yet. That is why you can see 12-year-olds walking down Riverside Avenue, puffing with impunity on Marlboros and Camels.

Researchers long have known tobacco is a gateway substance to other, illicit drugs. This year Washington lawmakers finally prohibited minor possession of cigarettes, effective June 12. That laudable step will do much more to curb drug abuse than banning the sale of water pipes and, depending on where the trend leads, paper clips.