This pesky US Constitution hinders Iowa lawmakers and their fantasies of destroying drugs.
The Iowa Senate last week unanimously passed a bill to increase state fees for tobacco pipe dealers, which lawmakers say is a strategy to combat methamphetamine use among Iowans. In reality, it is a big government tax and regulatory system that is unlikely to have a positive impact on high risk drug use.
Senate Act 363, which was brought forward 49-0 by the Senate last week, would be a huge tax hike for small businesses. When final approval is granted, pipe sellers must have a tobacco license, obtain additional approval for the equipment dealer for $ 1,500, and pay a whopping 40 percent excise duty on pipes.
If that seems too harsh to put mom and pop stores out of business, then it’s because it’s intentional. Without this meddling constitution, the legislature would have gone further.
“Let me be clear – I would prefer to ban these devices across the state, but I can’t do that because of constitutional problems in the US,” said Senator Dan Dawson of R-Council Bluffs.
Dawson said in the Senate that glass and metal pipes are mostly used for meth, heroin, and crack cocaine, but didn’t offer any insight into how he knew this.
The bill applies specifically to glass and metal pipes for inhaling flammable tobacco or other substances. Tobacco is of course legal and such devices have been available for many years. Sometimes, I imagine, they are used to consume illegal substances, but that is not their official purpose.
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Even if we believe that Iowa lawmakers – that the world is a scary place for small business owners to try to get their kids excited about meth – it isn’t clear that this legislation is a good answer. It has some foreseeable unintended consequences that undermine the intent of the legislature.
In particular, the invoice does not apply to old pipes made of thorn bush, meerschaum, clay or corn on the cob. Perhaps a new branch of hipster pipe stores will emerge in places like Iowa City and Des Moines.
The bigger oversight of the legislature is that store-bought pipes are just a means of consuming substances. If someone is on drugs, the lack of a pipe is unlikely to stop them.
Do-it-yourself pipes can easily be made from household items such as cans, foil, or even fruit. Done incorrectly, these improvised devices can put the user at risk, burn themselves or inadvertently inhale harmful chemicals.
All methods of drug use come with some risks and it is not helpful to stigmatize some over others. Users who do not have a pipe can instead inject (“shoot”) or insufflate (“snort”) their medication, which can be a different risk than smoking.
The impact of Iowa’s war on tobacco pipes will be that some locally owned businesses will shut down, others may downsize and drug users will use potentially more dangerous methods.
If government interventions like this were effective in limiting harmful drug use, lawmakers could simply impose a $ 1,500 royalty on meth traffickers, impose a 40 percent excise tax on their products, and then declare victory.
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