How is 3m Scotch tape used as a drug?

July 28, 2007 9:43 AM

3m scotch tape?? When I was in high school, and a bong head, we would shop for drug paraphernalia at a small shop on 8th street in Manhattan.

This shop sold screens, stems and “water pipes” as well as rolling papers. They also sold lots of junk for other types of drugs addictions, butane torches, glass pipes and nitrous oxide along with balloons and crackers. Among all of this stuff they sold boxes of 3m Scotch tape. Why?? This question has plagued me for years. I have never seen a reference in a movie, tv show or book. I must know!

posted by anonymous to society & culture (9 comments total)

The first thing that comes to mind is that you might go through a lot of scotch tape when you bag heroin for distribution.
posted by Rhomboid at 10:48 AM on July 28, 2007

People make pipes out of everything under the sun - whatever's handy -bear shaped honey containers, baggies, old water bottles, gift boxes, lamp shades... In adapting the item for use as a pipe, though, there is always the issue of sealing any holes. I would have assumed that the tape was to make sure that your newly-built smoking implement is well sealed where it needs to be.
posted by gemmy at 11:30 AM on July 28, 2007

Nah, at least on the east coast heroin bags are glassine envelopes like these and these envelopes are usually individually heat sealed inside plastic bags to prevent tampering. So no scotch tape there.
posted by The Straightener at 11:36 AM on July 28, 2007

Maybe the drug users had lice problems.
posted by MonkeySaltedNuts at 11:51 AM on July 28, 2007

A big box of the tape may have "fallen off a truck" and they just decided to move it in their store.
They may have gotten it in trade from a shady character.
posted by Iron Rat at 12:22 PM on July 28, 2007

Just based on a quick Googling of the issue.

Ressler delivered a box for interstate shipment to a shipping store in Mandan. The owner of the store became suspicious of Ressler and opened the package. The owner discovered numerous magazines, some of which had scotch tape around their three open sides. The owner cut one of the magazines open and found money in various pages throughout the magazine. The owner also examined a second magazine, which was not taped, but it did not contain any currency. The owner called the Mandan Police Department.
posted by SeizeTheDay at 1:58 PM on July 28, 2007

maybe they were tying to emulate this skit series from snl?

i never noticed this in any of the head shops i've been in, so i'd be inclined to think iron rat has it. it might also be possible that local regulations required them to sell something other then smoking supplies, so they carried tape as a way of being classified as an office supply store.
posted by lester's sock puppet at 2:04 PM on July 28, 2007 [1 favorite]

Nah, at least on the east coast heroin bags are glassine envelopes like these and these envelopes are usually individually heat sealed inside plastic bags to prevent tampering. So no scotch tape there.

Wrong. In some cities (Baltimore, Philadelphia), the glassine bags are indeed sealed in plastic, but in NYC the majority of dope bags are taped shut, then rubber-banded together.
posted by Item at 12:46 PM on July 29, 2007

You're correct that I should have narrowed that statement to Philly only, in Baltimore they actually load heroin into capsules that can either be cracked open or dissolved on a spoon. Hence, you hear characters on the Wire and the Corner talking about a "pill of dope."
posted by The Straightener at 9:07 PM on July 30, 2007