According to the Broward-Palm Beach New Times, “ex-crackhead” Rep. Darryl Rouson is not satisfied with how watered down his “bong ban” turned out to be. Gov. Rick Scott signed into law the bill Rouson sponsored last month.
“If we can make people drive to Georgia and Alabama and South Carolina to get fireworks, they can drive to get these utensils of death,” he told the New Times back in March.
The law makes “knowingly and willfully” selling drug paraphernalia a first-degree misdemeanor. The original intent was to ban all bongs, as well as acrylic, glass or ceramic smoking pipes—anything used to smoke marijuana.
However, the final version allows head shops to sell the devices, as long as they’re stated as for tobacco use only. This is almost a copy of the existing federal restrictions against drug paraphernalia.
Rouson tells reporters that the “Florida Smoke Shops Association” paid lobbyists $100,000 to make the loophole.
The story says that in Rouson’s “fevered and misguided attempt” to put legitimate shops out of business he actually created the Association. The organization formed to defeat Rouson’s efforts to “re-hash his version of the bill.”
