Head shop

Other items offered typically include hashish pipes, "one hitter" pipes; pipe screens; bongs (also referred to as water pipes[2]); roach clips (used for smoking the end of a marijuana "joint"); vaporizers used for inhaling THC vapor from cannabis; rolling papers; rolling machines; small weighing scales; small ziplock baggies; cannabis grinders (i.e. herb grinders); blacklight-responsive posters and blacklights; incense; cigarette lighters; "stashes", which include a range of standard consumer products such as clocks, books, tins of cleaning powder, and toilet brushes which have hidden compartments for cannabis and non-camouflaged "stash boxes" which are tins or wooden containers for storing marijuana; and legal highs such as whipped-cream chargers (which contain nitrous oxide) and Salvia divinorum (both of which are illegal in some countries and some US states for recreational purposes).

American head shops originated in the 1960s in cities with high concentrations of college-age youth, often growing out of independently owned poster or candle stores.

Historically, U.S. head shops proliferated on St. Mark's Place in New York City's East Village, in West Los Angeles, in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury neighborhood, and in Chicago's Old Town.

[7] The shops' popularity eventually waned with the aging of that era's baby boomer generation, as well as a 1973 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Miller v. California, that found that local communities could decide their own First Amendment standards concerning obscenity.

[8] In addition, the retail mainstream discovered and co-opted aspects of the head shop's market niche, such as acid rock and eco-friendly products.

[9] Some politicians were in favour of outlawing the shops whereas others argued that prohibiting the purchases of legal intoxicants would be a "huge mistake" which would allow illegal street dealers to thrive.

[13][14] One petrol bomb attack occurred in the home county of the then Minister for Justice, Dermot Ahern, and hours later, plans for legislation for regulation of head shops got underway.

[17] The Act empowered Gardaí (Irish police) to seek court orders to close head shops suspected of selling drug-like products, with the onus on the owners to prove they are not doing so.