Proposed ordinance expands drug laws
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The Ames City Council will review an ordinance Tuesday that would expand the city’s drug paraphernalia laws but would not affect how the laws are interpreted on campus.
The proposed ordinance was drafted after the Story County Prevention Policy Board wrote a letter to the mayor and City Council requesting a review of the current paraphernalia law, which both Ames and ISU police called “outdated.”
According to the current city ordinance, section 17.23 on dope, paraphernalia identifies marijuana or hashish pipes as having a bowl “so small that the primary use for which it is reasonably adapted or designed is the smoking of marijuana.” It also identifies “cocaine spoons” similarly and labels empty gelatin capsule’s and any other device designed primarily for the use of a controlled substance as paraphernalia.
George Belitsos, executive director of Youth and Shelter Services which endorsed the proposed changes in the ordinance, said the current policy was drafted in the 1980s and is now largely ineffective due to the evolving culture of drug use.
“There have been so many changes in devices utilized for the ingestion of illegal substances and also the way that they’re being marketed,” Belitsos said. “There were several outlets selling bongs and other devices that are commonly used to smoke dope that were selling them openly. One of the them called it — they had a fake rose in it — and they were saying it was a display item.”
The proposed ordinance, a collaborative effort between the Story County Prevention Policy Board, Ames Police Department, the city attorney’s office and the county attorney’s office, contains an expanded section of what constitutes as drug paraphernalia including kits used for planting or manufacturing controlled substances, testing equipment to analyze the purity of controlled substances and scales or balances intended for use in measuring controlled substances.
The emphasis in the proposed ordinance is on the intended use of the controlled substance, said Erin Kennedy, drug free coordinator with Youth and Shelter Services. She said she was hoping the new ordinance would discourage business owner who sold objects that could be considered paraphernalia.
“This ordinance, we’re hoping, is going to be able to allow the police to really regulate and motivate businesses not to sell those types of items in the community,” Kennedy said. “A lot of this, for business owners will have to do with how the item is displayed, what it’s next to, and while that can seem kind of like a fuzzy subject it’s really not. If you’re talking about these glass pipes and yet they’re supposed to be for tobacco, but you’re displaying them with marijuana signs or system cleansers, well, that seems off.”
Daniel Brown, owner of The Singer Station, 118 Hayward Ave., said his shop sold a lot of glass pipes, but prohibited any kind of advertising in the store that condoned illegal activity and also didn’t sell scales.
“We are known for pipes in general, I suppose, a lot of glass pipes, we also have a lot of beer right now and because that’s not selling well we’ll be reinvesting in a lot of posters,” Brown said. “We also sell a lot of cigars, novelty beer glasses and hemp necklaces.”
Brown said he had spoken to the city attorney’s office when he opened his business in April of 2009 and had also spoken with representatives from the office after hearing about the ordinance to make sure he would be in full compliance with the law.
Kennedy said the idea was that every situation was going to be left up to the police.
“It has to be the intent that the police determine, you need to have both the item and the intent to get to the fact that an item is paraphernalia,” Kennedy said.
Ames Police Chief Chuck Cychosz said he was pleased the proposed ordinance illustrated the way that community interaction with city government was supposed to work.
“This is a good process, the community brings this issue to the council, the council sends it to us and the city attorney’s office, we send it back, and now they’ll make a final decision,” he said.
An update to the current ordinance makes sense, Cychosz said.
“There were something under 100 cases of paraphernalia violations this year and most of those were written under the state code because ours was outdated,” he said.
ISU Police use the state code to determine drug paraphernalia charges and will remain largely unaffected by changes in the city ordinance.
“City ordinances do not generally apply on state property,” said Jerry Stewart, director of the department of public safety.
This means while city ordinances would be in effect in Campustown, state ordinances affect campus and the dorms.
“The advantage for us in using the drug paraphernalia definition under the state statute is that if that charged is filed with a more serious charge like possession of a controlled substance, both of those charges can go through the same court system,” Stewart said.
He said sometimes a drug paraphernalia charge can go through a different court process than a more serious charge because it is a simple misdemeanor.
The proposed ordinance was drafted after the Story County Prevention Policy Board wrote a letter to the mayor and City Council requesting a review of the current paraphernalia law, which both Ames and ISU police called “outdated.”
According to the current city ordinance, section 17.23 on dope, paraphernalia identifies marijuana or hashish pipes as having a bowl “so small that the primary use for which it is reasonably adapted or designed is the smoking of marijuana.” It also identifies “cocaine spoons” similarly and labels empty gelatin capsule’s and any other device designed primarily for the use of a controlled substance as paraphernalia.
George Belitsos, executive director of Youth and Shelter Services which endorsed the proposed changes in the ordinance, said the current policy was drafted in the 1980s and is now largely ineffective due to the evolving culture of drug use.
“There have been so many changes in devices utilized for the ingestion of illegal substances and also the way that they’re being marketed,” Belitsos said. “There were several outlets selling bongs and other devices that are commonly used to smoke dope that were selling them openly. One of the them called it — they had a fake rose in it — and they were saying it was a display item.”
The proposed ordinance, a collaborative effort between the Story County Prevention Policy Board, Ames Police Department, the city attorney’s office and the county attorney’s office, contains an expanded section of what constitutes as drug paraphernalia including kits used for planting or manufacturing controlled substances, testing equipment to analyze the purity of controlled substances and scales or balances intended for use in measuring controlled substances.
The emphasis in the proposed ordinance is on the intended use of the controlled substance, said Erin Kennedy, drug free coordinator with Youth and Shelter Services. She said she was hoping the new ordinance would discourage business owner who sold objects that could be considered paraphernalia.
“This ordinance, we’re hoping, is going to be able to allow the police to really regulate and motivate businesses not to sell those types of items in the community,” Kennedy said. “A lot of this, for business owners will have to do with how the item is displayed, what it’s next to, and while that can seem kind of like a fuzzy subject it’s really not. If you’re talking about these glass pipes and yet they’re supposed to be for tobacco, but you’re displaying them with marijuana signs or system cleansers, well, that seems off.”
Daniel Brown, owner of The Singer Station, 118 Hayward Ave., said his shop sold a lot of glass pipes, but prohibited any kind of advertising in the store that condoned illegal activity and also didn’t sell scales.
“We are known for pipes in general, I suppose, a lot of glass pipes, we also have a lot of beer right now and because that’s not selling well we’ll be reinvesting in a lot of posters,” Brown said. “We also sell a lot of cigars, novelty beer glasses and hemp necklaces.”
Brown said he had spoken to the city attorney’s office when he opened his business in April of 2009 and had also spoken with representatives from the office after hearing about the ordinance to make sure he would be in full compliance with the law.
Kennedy said the idea was that every situation was going to be left up to the police.
“It has to be the intent that the police determine, you need to have both the item and the intent to get to the fact that an item is paraphernalia,” Kennedy said.
Ames Police Chief Chuck Cychosz said he was pleased the proposed ordinance illustrated the way that community interaction with city government was supposed to work.
“This is a good process, the community brings this issue to the council, the council sends it to us and the city attorney’s office, we send it back, and now they’ll make a final decision,” he said.
An update to the current ordinance makes sense, Cychosz said.
“There were something under 100 cases of paraphernalia violations this year and most of those were written under the state code because ours was outdated,” he said.
ISU Police use the state code to determine drug paraphernalia charges and will remain largely unaffected by changes in the city ordinance.
“City ordinances do not generally apply on state property,” said Jerry Stewart, director of the department of public safety.
This means while city ordinances would be in effect in Campustown, state ordinances affect campus and the dorms.
“The advantage for us in using the drug paraphernalia definition under the state statute is that if that charged is filed with a more serious charge like possession of a controlled substance, both of those charges can go through the same court system,” Stewart said.
He said sometimes a drug paraphernalia charge can go through a different court process than a more serious charge because it is a simple misdemeanor.
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