The Mystic smoke shop in Orlando can relax a little after Florida’s newest “bong ban,” sponsored by St. Petersburg Rep. Darryl Rouson and signed into law by Gov. Rick Scott in June.
According to the Orlando Sentinel, the law was supposed to make “various smoking instruments,” such as bongs, glass and water pipes, illegal for retailers to sell. However, a lobbying campaign by the Florida Smoke Shop Association watered the bill down to what it finally became—a reproduction of existing federal rules on drug paraphernalia.
The bottom line is that stores like Mystic just follow what they have already been doing. Both the state and federal laws allows selling pipes, as long as they are for tobacco use only.
Florida Smoke Shop Association President Jay Work began the organization a few years ago to fight similar legislation—starting with another bill sponsored by Rouson in 2010.
“It was a grass-roots movement,” Work told the Sentinel. “As an association, we were able to hire the lobbyist, and that really helped us.”
Work owns four smoke shops in Broward and Palm Beach counties and makes many pipes himself by glass blowing.
