This bill was brought to the FL Congress, by a Democrat, Darryl Rouson. It was passed unanimously in both houses of the FL Congress by both parties.

This bill is the most riduculous, backwards thing ever – it actually promotes the most deadly, addictive substance in FL – tobacco, and prohibits glass, wood, stone, and acrylic items – if sold by Headshops that do not sell enough tobacco.

It’s really nothing more than a morality ploy, as the law itself is fine with these items being sold, just not if they’re sold by Headshops.

Most other sellers of pipes will be protected by this law – like the convenience store (pipes account for less than 25% of their revenues) selling glass stems to crack addicts will be protected. The pipe seller at a tobacco store(tobacco accounts for more than 75% of their sales) will be protected. Also, those stores could sell waterpipes as well.

Aside from the the loss of state income tax revenue, the loss of employment, the loss of rented out space, there could be other uninteded consequences.

What if a traditional pipe seller at a tobacco store sells more pipes than tobacco in a certain year? Will that store owner also end up in jail? How much tax dollars will go into the enforcement of this law? Will there be a new FL governmental agency to audit the books of all of these businesses?

Mr Crist, please veto this law. Just like the teacher’s bill, this is just a bad law. Even if you agree that waterpipes should be banned, it is still a bad law. You could simply state, “I vetoed it because I cannot in good conscience support a bill that further promotes and even encourages the sale of tobacco”.

SPL