Coalition Influences City Hall to Dump Drug Paraphernalia

A coalition in Detroit wants drug paraphernalia to be out of sight, but on the minds of city council. The Drug Free Communities Coalition is asking the Detroit City Council to regulate store owners who display drug paraphernalia at the checkout counter.

Last summer, the coalition’s Love Detroit Youth Initiative’s Street Team conducted environmental scans in the city’s four target zip codes surrounding Detroit public schools. For example, student assessments in the 48206 zip code alone found 19 liquor stores within a 1 to 2 mile radius of a local high school. Every liquor store and gas station sold blunt cigars and blunt wrappers individually and not in packages, which they thought were more affordable and attractive to youth.

In the city of Detroit, liquor store and gas station owners display and tape blunt wraps and other items used to roll marijuana on the bullet proof glass and sometimes on the windows of the stores. They also display numerous boxes of these items right next to the cash register and are sold individually. Students used video and digital cameras to capture and document the placement of tobacco products such as hookah pipes, loose cigarettes, mini cigars and the placement of alcoholic beverages and alcopops flavored malt liquor products in stores.

Students were offended and bothered by the drug and tobacco paraphernalia available to them in thousands of stores in their city, so they started a campaign, “Out of Sight, Out of Mind,” to change things at city hall to decrease the visibility and accessibility of paraphernalia at retail stores.

This week, the coalition presented their findings and strategy before city council. The group will also continue to meet with Detroit City Councilman President Charles Pugh, Councilwoman Shantell Jenkins and the City of Detroit Department of Research and Analysis in the upcoming weeks to review collected data and determine if this type of ordinance can be approved to remove blunt wrappers from point of purchase. We will also propose amendments to the Michigan Tobacco Act for the retail sale of little cigars and blunt wraps packaged in fewer than 20 units are no longer permitted.

The youth proved that in their city, it has become a social norm for young people to find it acceptable to smoke marijuana and tobacco. The coalition found that blunt wrappers, although are manufactured for tobacco use, are usually used to fill with marijuana. They also found that blunt wrappers come in flavors to cover the smell of weed.

“Blunt wraps are inexpensive and are highly available to urban youth. Having these products in our stores is like having drug dealers in our neighborhoods,” said April Woodard, Project Coordinator, Detroit Recovery Project Coalition, Drug Free Communities, Love Detroit Youth Initiative.

The coalition has utilized social media, posters and flyers to educate the community about their "Out of Sight, Out of Mind.” And if education alone doesn’t work, then Woodard hopes environmental change will.

“We are in the beginning stages of our public policy change initiative, but with the help of state and local government officials, community members, business owners, youth, media outlets and social media applications, we will gain momentum and succeed in our efforts to change the socially acceptable use and display of drug paraphernalia in our communities,” she said.