At this Margate head shop, classic rock plays, incense wafts and the owner fumes. One month ago, a state law went into effect that prohibits him from selling water pipes, air pipes and hookahs. The state now classifies those items as ``drug paraphernalia'' . . .
As of July 1, Florida law makes it a first-degree misdemeanor for a store to sell paraphernalia . . .
``This is what happened with porn,'' Work says. ``They put in so many regulations that the small adult stores couldn't survive . . .
A lawsuit, filed in Hillsborough County, is the latest chapter in a morality play that started in the Capitol and spilled into cyberspace . . .
The law's main proponent, Rep. Darryl Rouson, a St. Petersburg Democrat, is a former crack addict who has made it his duty to rid the state of illegal drugs . . .
Head shop owners ``are cowards who hide through the Internet,'' Rouson says . . .
Rouson says he could speak so authoritatively because he's been there . . .
When his second wife died, Rouson says he spent $60,000 of life insurance money on cocaine in six months . . .
``I was determined to be a man, to be free of drugs and raise my son,'' Rouson says . . .
The legalization wave across the country infuriates him. So Rouson has vowed to be a one-person barrier to such a movement . . .
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/08/...ban-aims-to-smoke-out-head.html#ixzz0w3Ve1a00
As of July 1, Florida law makes it a first-degree misdemeanor for a store to sell paraphernalia . . .
``This is what happened with porn,'' Work says. ``They put in so many regulations that the small adult stores couldn't survive . . .
A lawsuit, filed in Hillsborough County, is the latest chapter in a morality play that started in the Capitol and spilled into cyberspace . . .
The law's main proponent, Rep. Darryl Rouson, a St. Petersburg Democrat, is a former crack addict who has made it his duty to rid the state of illegal drugs . . .
Head shop owners ``are cowards who hide through the Internet,'' Rouson says . . .
Rouson says he could speak so authoritatively because he's been there . . .
When his second wife died, Rouson says he spent $60,000 of life insurance money on cocaine in six months . . .
``I was determined to be a man, to be free of drugs and raise my son,'' Rouson says . . .
The legalization wave across the country infuriates him. So Rouson has vowed to be a one-person barrier to such a movement . . .
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/08/...ban-aims-to-smoke-out-head.html#ixzz0w3Ve1a00



