COUNCIL URGED TO BAN SALE OF TUBE THAT CAN BE USED AS A CRACK PIPE

A petite rose stem in a narrow glass tube that is sold in convenience
stores can be rigged up into a crack pipe, police say.

"Hey, let me get a stem," is all that needs to be said to pick up one
for $3 at some convenience stores, according to antidrug activist Ben
Holder, a Greensboro native who said he drives through Waughtown daily.

Speaking before the Winston-Salem City Council last week during a
public meeting, Holder urged the council to pass the same law that
Greensboro adopted last summer. It makes the sale of the rose tube -
or possession of it with intent to sell - illegal.

To make his point, he reached into a brown paper bag and pulled out a
"stem" that he said he bought from a store on Kernersville Road. They
are not sold over the counter anymore, he said yesterday, and you
have to ask a clerk for them.

Winston-Salem city officials said yesterday that they were concerned
that a law, if they chose to adopt one, might not lead to
prosecutions. They suggested that it would be difficult to to make a
court argument about the sale of such products because there is
nothing illegal about them.

"We've been watching the Greensboro ordinance to see if it will hold
up in court," said Lee Garrity, an assistant city manager.

Since Greensboro adopted the law last summer, no cases under the
"drug-stem" law have gone to trial, said Capt. Rick Ball of the
Greensboro Police Department. In fact, no storeowners have been
cited, but the law has helped take the makeshift crack pipe off the
streets, he said.

Storeowners were notified that violation of the law could lead to
misdemeanor charges.

"Since that time, we have done spot checks. Just based on trends and
patterns, it's helped. It's curbed a lot of the activity," Ball said.

Rather than adopt the law, the city of Winston-Salem began a mailing
campaign last year asking convenience-store owners to voluntarily
remove the rose tube from their shelves.

Even though the law has not been adopted here, sales of the stem have
dwindled, police Capt. David Clayton said. "The reason we didn't seek
an ordinance," he said, "is because storeowners were giving voluntary
compliance."

Holder said during the city-council meeting that the makeshift crack
pipes are still being sold along Waughtown Street and other places in
the city. It's just behind the counter now.

Though the rose tube still may be bought, its availability apparently
has diminished.

At seven convenience stores on First Street and Waughtown Street
yesterday afternoon, clerks said that they did not sell the rose.
Most understood the terms "stem" and "rose tube" but said that the
item was not for sale.

Mayor Allen Joines said that police officials will recommend whether
the law should be adopted here.

"Police are looking to see if that is needed. I'd like to see what
they say," Joines said.