• Gas Station gets busted for selling Bongs and Pipes
    30 replies, posted
[quote] EAST MOLINE, IL - It wasn't your typical drug bust. Meg agents and East Moline police raided a gas station. Its owner, 43-year-old Kiran Basnet, has been charged with selling pipes used for meth, crack cocaine and marijuana out of Star S&K Mini-Mart on Kennedy Drive. It's advertised as a "Smoke and Liquor Shoppe," but police say the owner also helped people smoke illegal substances...a surprise to those in the community. "It's very shocking the staff over there have never been anything but helpful, pleasant and welcoming to our community," says Trudy Whittington, Hope Creek Care Nursing Home Administrator. Whittington runs the nursing home across the street from star S&K Mini-Mart and says it's scary that drug users may have shopped so close by. "It's sad to think that in society you just never know who or what or where or when, so yeah, it's kind of disturbing," says Whittington. Tuesday MEG agents laid out a disturbing amount of drug paraphernalia including bongs, digital scales and cleverly disguised pipes they say are used to smoke crack and meth. "If you look at these pens, they don't work. You can't use them, pull the pen out and it's a glass stem typically found with crack cocaine users," says Chris Endress, QC MEG Director. A table full of pipes and paraphernalia was all seized after MEG agents got a tip. Two undercover officers then bought suspected meth pipes before arresting the owner. Some of the items sat on display for the customers to see, but the suspected crack and meth pipes were kept in a hidden case under a blanket. "It's scary that it's that close and I did frequent that store a lot, did is the operative word there. I'm not going back. I had my little boy in there and that's really scary," says Sunday Saunders, East Moline. "Over the years more and more of this is showing up and it desensitizes our children to thinking this is normal and it's not. We're reeling it back in and take this stuff off the streets," says Endress. Endress says other convenience stores that sell these items should beware. If they're prepared to sell them, then be prepared to be caught and face charges. Basnet is charged with a felony and could face three years in prison. The Rock Island County Assistant State's Attorney says Basnet could also face several civil charges and lose his liquor license. [/quote] [url]http://www.wqad.com/news/wqad-gas-station-meth-bust-032310,0,3695329.story[/url] This is local news from my area, and I know Facepunchers don't normally care. But I wanted to discuss this issue. Why is it illegal to sell plastic molded in the shape of a bong? Or even a fake pen with a glass tube that could be used for crack? Drugs aren't included with the pipe, so I don't see what the issue is.
They forgot to say it's all meant for tobacco use.
I live in Hamilton, Ontario in Canada. Almost every other store I see has pipes and bongs. Hell, every convenience store I've been in around here have bongs and pipes.
Other gas stations: Eat here, get gas This one: Eat here, get high
Every convenience store in my area sells bongs. Hell one of them sells grinders and paper rollers too.
[QUOTE=Gmod_Fan77;20945284]Other gas stations: Eat here, get gas This one: Eat here, get high[/QUOTE] Here in Canada most of the corner stores carry pipes, all of them have papers, and a lot have bongs. Up the street from here, there is a store like 7/11, where you can buy candy, slushies, fried chicken and a bong all in one store.
Sounds pretty suave
Do they even have any evidence it's used for illegal drugs?
It's drug paraphernalia, it doesn't matter.
What draws the line between 'drug paraphernalia' and a tobacco pipe?
[QUOTE=Conscript;20945382]What draws the line between 'drug paraphernalia' and a tobacco pipe?[/QUOTE] Or just molded plastic that happens to look like a bong?
[QUOTE=Conscript;20945382]What draws the line between 'drug paraphernalia' and a tobacco pipe?[/QUOTE] State Laws. Some states have outlawed any glass pipes and all bongs. It's dumb, I know. I'm assuming that the legislature in that state passed a law outlawing all glass pipes and stuff.
[QUOTE=Kolmala;20945272]I live in Hamilton, Ontario in Canada. Almost every other store I see has pipes and bongs. Hell, every convenience store I've been in around here have bongs and pipes.[/QUOTE] They also sell Salvia, and vaporizers are starting to appear.
[QUOTE=Mr. Ambleu;20945563]They also sell Salvia, and vaporizers are starting to appear.[/QUOTE] What? Saliva?...
[QUOTE=The Finder;20945726]What? Saliva?...[/QUOTE] salvia divinorum, a legal hallucinogen
[QUOTE=Gmod_Fan77;20945284]Other gas stations: Eat here, get gas This one: Eat here, get high[/QUOTE]
Since when did smoking utensils become illegal?
You cannot advertise it as a bong, or a bubbler. In some head-shops in the US, the owner or worker there will kick you out if you mention any weed paraphernalia related words inside the store because something like that can get the store in trouble. They know no one buys a bong to smoke tobacco out of it, but thats why you call it a tobacco pipe or a tobacco vaporizer. And what is the difference between a bong and a tobacco pipe to LEO's? If it's clean, and your 18, you claim it for tobacco use and you are set. If it's dirty and has marijuana resin, you're fucked.
[quote]"It's sad to think that in society you just never know who or what or where or when, so yeah, it's kind of disturbing," says Whittington.[/quote] Yeah it's so disturbing that people have privacy. What I think is much more disturbing is that these people are all freaked out about this discovery.
Bongs fund communists and abortions.
[QUOTE=Kolmala;20945272]I live in Hamilton, Ontario in Canada. Almost every other store I see has pipes and bongs. Hell, every convenience store I've been in around here have bongs and pipes.[/QUOTE] I think drug paraphernalia is legal here in canada. I see stuff like that everywhere, and I'm in fucking Saskatchewan.
Even here in Australia Opium pipes and bongs are in clear view, no one cares.
Only in America. Oh wait.
[QUOTE=GunsNRoses;20989864]Even here in Australia Opium pipes and bongs are in clear view, no one cares.[/QUOTE] something thats [I]not[/I] banned?!
We all know how this thread is going to go.
I live in Elgin,IL I know a store that sells bongs and crap, They never had a problem.
[QUOTE=The Finder;20945726]What? Saliva?...[/QUOTE] I clearly said Salvia. Google is your friend. [editline]08:00PM[/editline] [QUOTE=Zeke129;20989554]I think drug paraphernalia is legal here in canada. I see stuff like that everywhere, and I'm in fucking Saskatchewan.[/QUOTE] It totally is. There are quite a few stores in my home city that sell nothing but drug paraphernalia.
I've heard ads about drug paraphernalia on the radio, and I live in wisconsin. It was kind of odd hearing about it, mostly because I wasn't expecting it.
Fucking stupid, Why can't people let people do want they want.
[QUOTE=Weirdo009;21002215]Fucking stupid, Why can't people let people do want they want.[/QUOTE] Within reason.
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.