* The North Park Puff & Stuff Smoke Shop near the corner of Park and University has been evicted per order of the SD county sheriff [info per notice posted on storefront 1/19/08].

* Franky's Smoke Shop at 4506 30th St. has gone out of business, as a direct result of not being able to sell and/or the liabilities of selling meth/crack pipes [info from City Atty's office 1/23/08].

REPORT VIOLATIONS

NPCA's Advocacy Committee will serve as Point of Contact for community members wishing to report violations of  the City's Cease-and-Desist orders to North Park Smoke Shops. If you are aware of current violations of the order in one of the shops in  North Park, please send the following information to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it : business name, business address, specific item(s) that are in violation of order, date(s) of violation. Send photos if possible. Please include your contact information (for confirmation only).

NPCA has been working  to let City officials know that North Park does not want illegal drug paraphernalia sold in our neighborhood.

12/19/07: 2 Arrested After Undercover Smoke Shop Operation

Businesses that sell drug paraphernalia support a subculture around the use of illegal substances and cater to drug users. Many of these stores are disguising the nature of their business by calling themselves “smoke shops”. These shops often have a negative effect on the neighborhoods in which they are located.

According to the Comprehensive Report of the Office of the San Diego City Attorney, May 12th, 2006), “These stores attract drug users and dealers to the store’s location to make drug transactions thereby creating substantial negative secondary effects. Some of these establishments offer for sale everything needed to traffic and use narcotics with the exception of the drugs themselves including, but not limited to, plastic baggies, weighing scales, crack pipes, spoons, and products to allow drug users to test clean.”

In August and September 2007, NPCA's Advocacy Committee, the North Park Action Team, and concerned residents collected more than 550 signatures on a Petition calling for the city to give serious consideration to a new local ordinance that imposes strong penalties on any retailer that engages in this activity.

On October 16, 2007, NPCA representatives Jeffrey Stebbins, Beth Swersie and Kirsten Clemons were speakers at the City Council meeting on Tuesday, October 16th, in support of the Tobacco Retailer's Ordinance that has a section in it about sales of illegal drug paraphernalia. Several other NPCA members also attended and submitted slips in favor of the ordinance.

Go to Council Videos, then click on "view video" for the 10/16/07 Council mtg. Our comments start 40 minutes into the meeting. To read the ordinance, go to Ordinance.

The protest was also mentioned in SD CityBeat's article about action taken by the City Attorney's office against the sales of illegal drug parapheralia in smoke shops citywide. Story online. See also NP residents Letters to Editor regarding the article: 12/4/07 and 12/11/07.

Most recently, NPCA representatives Chip McAllister, Lynn Elliott and Beth Swersie attended a City Council meeting on 12/4/07 to thank Councilmember Atkins, City Attorney Mike Aguirre, and the DART investigators for their assistance and to request their continued support in our campaign against the sales of illegal drug paraphernalia in North Park and in the City of San Diego. [Thank you letter ]

Go to Council Videos, then click on "view video" for the 12/4/07 meeting. Our comments start 1 hour, 18 minutes into the video.