Yolo County Municipal Code Ch. 18 Drug Paraphernalia

* Adopted as Chapter 14; renumbered to Chapter 18 by codifier to conform with numbering system of the Code.

The illegal use of controlled substances within the unincorporated area of the County creates serious social, medical, and law enforcement problems. The illegal use of such substances by persons under eighteen (18) years of age has reached crisis dimensions. It is causing serious physical and psychological damage to he youth of this community, an impairment of educational achievement and of the efficiency of the educational system, increases in a non-drug related crimes and a threat to the ability of the community to ensure future generations of responsible and productive adults, all to the detriment of the healthy, safety, and welfare of the citizens of the County.

The proliferation of the display of drug paraphernalia in retail stores within the unincorporated area, and the distribution of such paraphernalia, intensifies, and otherwise compounds the problem of illegal use of controlled substances in this community. That proliferation is encouraged by the enactment of regulatory laws in neighboring jurisdictions, and the enactment of regulatory laws is necessary to prevent the migration of such displays and distribution in the County.

A ban only upon the display and distribution of drug paraphernalia to persons under eighteen (18) years of age would not be practical. The person who displays or distributes would have difficulty determining who could lawfully view or receive drug paraphernalia. The already thinly-staffed law enforcement agencies would be subject to intolerable added enforcement burden by adding the age of a person who views or receives paraphernalia as an element of a prohibition upon displays and distribution. A significant number of high school students are eighteen (18) years of age or older. It would be unlawful to distribute paraphernalia to some students attending the same school in which the distribution to other students would be prohibited. Permitted displays and distribution to adults within the community would symbolize a public tolerance of illegal drug use, making it difficult to explain the rationale of program directed against similar abuse by youth. The problem of the illegal consumption of controlled substances by adults within this community is significant and substantial, necessitating a cessation of the encouragement to drug abuse which the display and distribution of drug paraphernalia create.

This chapter is a measure which is necessary in order to discourage the illegal use of controlled substances within the unincorporated area of the County. (§ 1, Ord. 908, eff. April 30, 1981)

For the purposes of this chapter, unless otherwise apparent from the context, certain words and phrases used in this chapter are defined as follows:

(a) Business. “Business” shall mean a fixed location, whether indoors or outdoors, at which merchandise is offered for sale at retail.

(b) Display. “Display” shall mean to show to a patron or place in a manner so as to be available for viewing or inspection by a patron.

(c) Patron. “Patron” shall mean a person who enters a business for the purpose of purchasing or viewing as a shopper merchandise offered for sale at the business.

(d) Distribute. “Distribute” shall mean to transfer ownership or a possessory interest to another, whether for consideration or as a gratuity. “Distribute” shall include both sales and gifts.

(e) Controlled substance. “Controlled substance” shall mean those controlled substances set forth in Sections 11054, 11055, 11056, 11057, and 11058 of the Health and Safety Code of the State, identified as Schedules I through V, inclusive, as said sections now exist or may hereafter be amended.

(f) Drug paraphernalia. “Drug paraphernalia” shall mean all equipment, products, and materials of any kind which are intended by a person charged with a violation of this chapter for use in planting, propagating, cultivating, growing, harvesting, manufacturing, compounding, converting, producing, processing, preparing, testing, analyzing, packaging, repacking, storing, containing, concealing, injecting, ingesting, inhaling, or otherwise introducing into the human body a controlled substance in violation of any law of the State. “Drug paraphernalia” shall include, but not be limited to, all of the following:

(1) Kits intended for use in planting, propagating, cultivating, growing, or harvesting any species of plant which is a controlled substance or from which a controlled substance can be derived;

(2) Kits intended for use in manufacturing, compounding, converting, producing, processing, or preparing controlled substances;

(3) Isomerization devices intended for use in increasing the potency of any species of plant which is a controlled substance.

(4) Testing equipment intended for use in identifying or in analyzing the strength, effectiveness, or purity of controlled substances;

(5) Scales and balances intended for use in weighing or measuring controlled substances;

(6) Dilutants and adulterants, such as quinine hydrochloride, mannitol, mannite, dextrose, and lactose, intended for use in cutting controlled substances;

(7) Separation gins and sifters intended for use in removing twigs and seeds from, or in otherwise cleaning or refining, marijuana;

(8) Blenders, bowls, containers, spoons, and mixing devices intended for use in compounding controlled substances;

(9) Capsules, balloons, envelopes, and other containers intended for use in packaging small quantities of controlled substances;

(10) Containers and other objects intended for use in storing or concealing controlled substances; and

(11) Objects intended for use in injecting, inhaling, or otherwise introducing marijuana, cocaine, hashish, or hashish oil into the human body, such as:

(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) Miniature cocaine spoons and cocaine vials;

(vii) Chamber pipes;

(viii) Carburetor pipes;

(ix) Air-driven pipes; and

(x) Bongs.

In determining whether an object is “drug paraphernalia”, a court or other authority may consider, in addition to all other logically relevant factors, the following:

• 1. Statements by an owner or by anyone in control of the object concerning its use;
• 2. The proximity of the object to controlled substances;
• 3. The existence of any residue of controlled substances on the object;

4. Direct or circumstantial evidence of the intent of an owner, or of anyone in control of the object, to deliver to persons whom he knows intend to use the object to facilitate violations of the laws of the State relating to controlled substances;

• 5. Instructions, oral or written, provided with the object concerning its use;
• 6. Descriptive materials accompanying the object which explain or depict its use;
• 7. National and local advertising concerning its use;
• 8. The manner in which the object is displayed for sale;

9. Direct or circumstantial evidence of the ratio of sales of the object or objects to the total sales of the business enterprise;

10. The existence and scope of legitimate uses for the object in the community; and

11. Expert testimony concerning its use.

(g) Person. “Person” shall mean a natural person or any firm, partnership, association, corporation, or cooperative association. (§ 1, Ord. 908, eff. April 30, 1981)

(a) Except as authorized by law, it shall be unlawful for any person to willfully maintain or operate any business knowing, or under circumstances where one reasonably should know, that drug paraphernalia is displayed at such business.

(b) Except as authorized by law, it shall be unlawful for any person who is the owner of a business, an employee thereof, or one who works at such business as an agent of the owner to willfully display drug paraphernalia at such a business. (§ 1, Ord. 908, eff. April 30, 1981)

Except as authorized by law, it shall be unlawful for any person to willfully distribute to another person drug paraphernalia knowing, or under circumstances where one reasonably should know, that it will be used to plant, propagate, cultivate, grow, harvest, manufacture, compound, convert, produce, process, prepare, test, analyze, pack, repack, store, contain, conceal, inject, ingest, inhale, or otherwise introduce into the human body a controlled substance in violation of any law of the State. (§ 1, Ord. 908, eff. April 30, 1981)

No provision of this chapter shall be deemed, whether directly or indirectly, to authorize any act which is otherwise prohibited by any law of the State or require any act which is otherwise prohibited by any law of the State. Nor shall any provision of this chapter be deemed,.whether directly or indirectly, to prohibit any act or acts which are prohibited as a criminal offense by any law of the State. (§ 1, Ord. 908, eff. April 30, 1981)

If any provision of this chapter or the application thereof to any person or circumstances is held invalid, the invalidity shall not affect the other provisions or applications of this chapter which can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this end the provisions of this chapter are severable. (§ 1, Ord. 908, eff. April 30, 1981)

Any person who violates any provision of this chapter shall be guilty of an infraction and, upon conviction, shall be punishable by (1) a fine not exceeding Fifty and no/100ths ($50.00) Dollars for a first violation; (2) a fine not exceeding One Hundred and no/100ths ($100.00) Dollars for a second violation of this chapter within one year; and (3) a fine not exceeding Two Hundred Fifty and no/100ths ($250.00) Dollars for each additional violation of this chapter within one year. A person who violates the provisions of Section 5-18.03 of this chapter shall be deemed guilty of a separate offense for each day, or portion thereof, during which the violation continues. A person who violates the provisions of Section 5-18.04 of this chapter shall be guilty of a separate offense for each item of drug paraphernalia which is distributed. (§ 1, Ord. 908, eff. April 30, 1981)