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)