WEST virginia legislature
2017 regular session
Introduced
House Bill 2207
By Delegates Hamilton and Sobonya
[Introduced February
8, 2017; Referred
to the Committee on Select Committee on Prevention and Treatment of Substance
Abuse then the Judiciary.]
A BILL to repeal §47-19-2 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended; to amend and reenact §47-19-1, §47-19-3, §47-19-4 and §47-19-5 of said code; and to amend and reenact §60A-4-403a of said code, all relating to licenses to sell paraphernalia for use with controlled substances; terminating the Tax Commissioner's authority to issue business licenses to sell paraphernalia for use with controlled substances; revoking licenses previously issued by the Tax Commissioner; clarifying the definition of drug paraphernalia; requiring the continued retention of transaction records after the revocation of licensed authority; rule-making authority; effective date; criminal offense elements; and criminal penalties.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §47-19-2 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be repealed; that §47-19-1, §47-19-3, §47-19-4 and §47-19-5 of said code be amended and reenacted; and that §60A-4-403a be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
CHAPTER 47. REGULATION OF TRADE.
ARTICLE 19. DRUG PARAPHERNALIA.
§47-19-1. Items designed or marketed for use with
controlled substances; license required.
On and after July 1, 2017, it shall be is unlawful for any person
or persons as principal, clerk, agent or servant to sell any items, effect,
paraphernalia, accessory or thing which is designed or marketed for use with
controlled substances, as defined in chapter sixty-a of this code. without
obtaining a license therefor from the State Tax Commissioner. Such licenses
shall be in addition to any or all other licenses held by applicant. The fee
for such license shall be $150. Any license issued by the State Tax
Commissioner authorizing the sale of drug paraphernalia in this state pursuant
to the provisions of this article prior to July 1, 2015, is void and of no
effect.
§47-19-3. Drug paraphernalia defined.
(a) The following items,
if marketed for use or designed for the use with controlled substances, are
considered drug paraphernalia for the purpose stated in section one of this article:
(1) Kits marketed for
use, or designed for use in planting, propagating, cultivating, growing, or
harvesting of any species of plant which is a controlled substance or from
which a controlled substance can be derived;
(2) Kits marketed for
use, or designed for use in manufacturing, compounding, converting, producing,
processing or preparing controlled substances;
(3) Isomerization
devices marketed for use, or designed for use in increasing the potency of any
species of plant which is a controlled substance;
(4) Testing equipment
marketed for use, or designed for use in identifying, or in analyzing the
strength, effectiveness or purity of controlled substances;
(5) Scales and balances
used, intended for use, or designed for use in weighing or measuring controlled
substances;
(6) Diluents and
adulterants, such as quinine hydrochloride, mannitol, mannite, dextrose and
lactose, marketed for use, or designed for use in cutting controlled
substances;
(7) Separation gins and
sifters marketed for use, or designed for use in removing twigs and seeds from,
or in otherwise cleaning or refining, marijuana;
(8) Blenders, bowls,
containers, spoons and mixing devices used, intended for use, or designed for
use in compounding controlled substances;
(9) Capsules, balloons,
envelopes and other containers marketed for use, or designed for use in
packaging small quantities of controlled substances;
(10) Hypodermic
syringes, needles and other objects marketed for use, or designed for use in
parenterally injecting controlled substances into the human body;
(11) Paper of colorful
design, with names oriented for use with controlled dangerous substances and
displayed: Provided, That white paper or tobacco oriented paper not
necessarily designed for use with controlled substances is not covered;
(12) Pipes displayed in
the proximity of roach clips, or literature encouraging illegal use of
controlled substances, are covered by this article: Provided, That pipes
otherwise displayed are not covered by this article;
(13) Roach clips:
meaning objects used to hold burning material, such as a marijuana cigarette,
that has become too small or too short to be held in the hand;
(14) Miniature cocaine
spoons, and cocaine vials; or
(15) Chillums or bongs.
(b) In determining
whether an object is marketed for use or designed for use as drug
paraphernalia, the state tax commissioner or other authority should consider
the following:
(1) The proximity of the
object, in time and space, to a controlled substance;
(2) The existence of any
residue of controlled substances on the object;
(3) Instructions, oral
or written, provided with the object concerning it use;
(4) Descriptive
materials accompanying the object which explain or depict its use;
(5) National and local
advertising concerning its use;
(6) The manner in which
the object is displayed for sale;
(7) Whether the owner,
or anyone in control of the object, is a legitimate supplier of like or related
items to the community, such as a licensed distributor or dealer of tobacco
products;
(8) Direct or
circumstantial evidence of the ratio of sales of the object or objects to the
total sales of the business enterprise;
(9) The existence and
scope of legitimate uses for the object in the community.
(a) The following items, if marketed for use or designed for use with controlled substances, are considered drug paraphernalia for the purpose stated in section one of this article:
Any equipment, product, or material of any kind which is primarily intended or designed for use in manufacturing, compounding, converting, concealing, producing, processing, preparing, injecting, ingesting, inhaling, or otherwise introducing into the human body a controlled substance, possession of which is unlawful under this subchapter. It includes items primarily intended or designed for use in ingesting, inhaling, or otherwise introducing marijuana, cocaine, hashish, hashish oil, PCP, methamphetamine, or amphetamines into the human body, including but not limited to the following items:
(1) Metal, wooden, acrylic, glass, stone, plastic, or ceramic pipes with or without screens, permanent screens, hashish heads, or punctured metal bowls;
(2) Water pipes;
(3) Carburetion tubes and devices;
(4) Smoking and carburetion masks;
(5) Roach clips: meaning objects used to hold burning material, such as a marihuana cigarette, that has become too small or too short to be held in the hand;
(6) Miniature spoons with level capacities of one-tenth cubic centimeter or less;
(7) Chamber pipes;
(8) Carburetor pipes;
(9) Electric pipes;
(10) Air-driven pipes;
(11) Chillums;
(12) Bongs;
(13) Ice pipes or chillers;
(14) Wired cigarette papers; or
(15) Cocaine freebase kits.
(b) In determining whether an item constitutes drug paraphernalia, in addition to all other logically relevant factors, the following may be considered:
(1) Instructions, oral or written, provided with the item concerning its use;
(2) Descriptive materials accompanying the item which explain or depict its use;
(3) National and local advertising concerning its use;
(4) The manner in which the item is displayed for sale;
(5) Whether the owner, or anyone in control of the item, is a legitimate supplier of like or related items to the community, such as a licensed distributor or dealer of tobacco products;
(6) Direct or circumstantial evidence of the ratio of sales of the item(s) to the total sales of the business enterprise; and
(7) The existence and scope of legitimate uses of the item in the community.
(c) The following items are not items sold or marketed as drug paraphernalia:
(1) Any item that, in the normal lawful course of business, is imported, exported, transported, or sold through the mail or by any other means, and traditionally intended for use with tobacco products, including any pipe, paper, or accessory; and
(2) Any item which is sold in the normal lawful course of business and intended for use pursuant to a valid prescription issued by a doctor, physician or licensed medical practitioner.
§47-19-4. Records.
Every licensee must keep
entity which was issued a license by the State Tax Commissioner to sell drug
paraphernalia prior to July 1, 2015, shall continue to keep and retain a
record of every item, effect, paraphernalia, accessory or thing which is
designed or marketed for use with controlled substances which is it
sold, and this record shall be open to the inspection of any police officer at
any time during the hours of business. Such The record shall
contain the name and address of the purchaser, the name and quantity of the
product, the date and time of the sale, and the licensee or agent of the
licensee's signature. Such The records shall be retained for not
less than two years.
§47-19-5. Regulations Rules.
The applicant shall
comply with all definition of drug paraphernalia, as contained in the
applicable rules of the State Tax Commissioner, promulgated continue
to be in effect, until revised. The State Tax Commissioner is granted authority
to promulgate emergency rules and propose rules for legislative approval to
effectuate the revisions to this article, pursuant to the provisions of article
three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code.
CHAPTER 60A. UNIFORM CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES ACT.
ARTICLE 4. OFFENSES AND PENALTIES.
§60A-4-403a. Prohibition of illegal drug paraphernalia businesses; definitions; places deemed common and public nuisances; abatement; suit to abate nuisances; injunction; search warrants; forfeiture of property; penalties.
(a) Any person who knowingly and willfully conducts, finances, manages, supervises, directs or owns all or part of an illegal drug paraphernalia business is guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than $5,000, or confined in jail not less than six months nor more than one year, or both.
(b) A person violates subsection (a) of this section when:
(1) The person knowingly and willfully conducts, finances, manages, supervises, directs, or owns all or part of a business which for profit, in the regular course of business or as a continuing course of conduct, manufactures, sells, stores, possesses, gives away or furnishes objects designed to be primarily useful as drug devices.
(2) The person knows or has reason to know that the design of such objects renders them primarily useful as drug devices.
(c) As used in this section, "drug device" means an object usable for smoking marijuana, for smoking controlled substances defined as tetrahydrocannabinols, or for ingesting or inhaling cocaine, and includes, but is not limited to:
(i) Metal, wooden, acrylic, glass, stone, plastic or ceramic pipes with or without screens, permanent screens, hashish heads, or punctured metal bowls;
(ii) Water pipes;
(iii) Carburetion tubes and devices;
(iv) Smoking and carburetion masks;
(v) Roach clips; meaning objects used to hold burning material, such as a marijuana cigarette, that has become too small or too short to be held in the hand;
(vi) Chamber pipes;
(vii) Carburetor pipes;
(viii) Electric pipes;
(ix) Air-driven pipes;
(x) Chillums;
(xi) Bongs;
(xii) Ice pipes or chillers; and
(xiii) Miniature cocaine spoons, and cocaine vials.
In any prosecution under this section, the question whether an object is a drug device shall be a question of fact.
(d) A place where drug
devices are manufactured, sold, stored, possessed, given away or furnished in
violation of this section shall be deemed a common or public nuisance.
Conveyances or vehicles of any kind shall be deemed places within the meaning
of this section and may be proceeded against under the provisions of subsection
(e) of this section. A person who shall maintain knowingly and
willfully maintains, or shall aid or abet aids or abets or
knowingly be associated associates with others in maintaining
such common or public nuisance shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon
conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine of not more than $1,000, or by
confinement in jail not more than six months for each offense, and judgment
shall be given that such the nuisance be abated or closed as a
place for the manufacture, sale, storage, possession, giving away or furnishing
of drug devices.
(e) The prosecuting attorney or a citizen of the county or municipality where a nuisance as defined in subsection (d) is located, may maintain a suit in the name of the state to abate and perpetually enjoin the same. Circuit courts shall have jurisdiction thereof. The injunction may be granted at the commencement of the suit and no bond shall be required if such action for injunction be brought by the prosecuting attorney. If such suit for injunction be brought or maintained by a citizen of the county or municipality where such nuisance is alleged to be located, then the court may require a bond as in other cases of injunction. On the finding that the material allegations of the complaint are true, the court or judge thereof in vacation shall order the injunction for such period of time as it or he or she may think proper, with the right to dissolve the injunction upon the application of the owner of the place, if a proper case is shown for such dissolution.
The continuance of the injunction as provided in this section may be ordered, although the place complained of may not at the time of hearing be unlawfully used.
(f) If there be complaint on oath or affirmation supported by affidavit or affidavits setting forth the facts for such belief that drug devices are being manufactured, sold, kept, stored or in any manner held, used or concealed in a particular house or other place with intent to engage in illegal drug paraphernalia business in violation of law, a magistrate or a circuit court, or the judge thereof in vacation to whom such complaint is made, if satisfied that there is probable cause for such belief, shall issue a warrant to search such house or other place for such devices. Such warrants, except as herein otherwise provided, shall be issued, directed and executed in accordance with the laws of West Virginia pertaining to search warrants. Warrants issued under this section for the search of any automobile, boat, conveyance or vehicle, or for the search of any trunk, grip or other article of baggage, for such devices, may be executed in any part of the state where the same are overtaken, and shall be made returnable before any magistrate or circuit court, or the judge thereof in vacation, within whose jurisdiction such automobile, boat, conveyance, vehicle, trunk, grip or other article of baggage, or any of them, were transported or attempted to be transported.
An officer charged with the execution of a warrant issued under this section, may, whenever it is necessary, break open and enter a house, or other place herein described.
(g) Any property, including money, used in violation of the provisions of this section may be seized and forfeited to the state.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to repeal the statutory provision which authorizes the State Tax Commissioner to issue business licenses for the purpose of selling drug paraphernalia, to void licenses issued prior to July 1, 2015 and to prohibit the sales on and after July 1, 2017.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.