By SJ Otto
Recently in Wichita we see the desperation by police who realize their reign of terror with marijuana laws may be over soon. They attacked local stores, this last week, for selling so called "drug paraphernalia."
The state passed a law, In 2008, against selling products designed to use illegal drugs. The city also has one. There were also crackdowns on city head shops in 2010. But today many of the places the police have focused on are the new vape shops that sell equipment for e-cigs. It turns out that the equipment can also be used for drugs. But by that definition a shovel can be used to plant marijuana and is also a form of drug paraphernalia. This whole set of laws were ludicrous from the start. They only way to tell what a product is being sold for is the advertizing or if it has a picture of a drug on it, such as a pipe with a picture of a marijuana leaf.
Since this effort by the police began, some smoke shops plan to shut down, according to The Wichita Eagle. They had nothing to do with drugs. They were making money off of the new e-cig craze.
The Wichita Eaglealso cited a rise in drug using equipment which may be a product of the legalization of marijuana in Colorado and because if states such as California legalizing it for medicine.
The bottom line here is that marijuana prohibition is one its way out. It took me a life-time to see it come, but it is almost here. It should have happened years ago. These local police actions are those of desperate people who just can't accept the changes.
