LONG ISLAND, NY – Crack pipe VENDING MACHINES popped up in three towns on Long Island, New York a few weeks ago.  Now that people figured out what they are, they’re freaking out.  And it’s possible that whoever installed them could face criminal charges for selling drug paraphernalia.

It is probably a bad sign for a town if someone thinks it’s got enough crack cocaine users that it’s worth starting a new business to cater to them.

And that’s exactly what happened in three towns on Long Island, New York:  Brookhaven, Coram, and Medford.

A few weeks ago, someone installed what seem to be crack pipe vending machines in all three towns.

The machines claim they’re selling pens for $2.  But they’re not really pens . . . they’re a glass tube, a filter, and some ink.  In theory you could put those things together to make a pen, but really, people throw out the ink and use the pipe and filter for smoking crack.

No one’s quite sure who installed the machines, but people in all three towns are freaking out about them.  The cops are investigating where they came from . . . and they say they could possibly file criminal charges.

A councilman from Brookhaven says, quote, “To sell a pipe is not illegal, but this is considered drug paraphernalia.  And it also is being dispensed from a machine that was installed illegally per town code.”