Officials are searching for whoever is responsible for setting up several “crack pipe” vending machines in the Long Island town of Coram, New York.
Suffolk County officials say they received complaints from residents over the weekend, and between Sunday and Monday, three machines had been found.
During a press conference Monday, Councilman Michael Loguercio said, “it is not illegal to sell the pens and it is not illegal to sell a pipe, but they are considered drug paraphernalia and they were being dispensed from a machine that was installed illegally per town code.”
“They were actually repurposed tampon dispensers,” said Jack Krieger, Communications Director for the Town of Brookhaven.
Two of the dispensers were found on public right-of-ways; the third makeshift machine was found outside the Fairfield Apartments on Route 112, according to CNN affiliate News 12 Long Island.
The Suffolk County Police Department says the dispensers have been removed and they are asking for the public’s help to identify who set them up.
Krieger said because the circumstances around the machines are still being investigated, “no fine amount has been determined for violating the town code.”
“We are working with the Suffolk County Police Department to identify more locations and will cooperate fully to find those responsible and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law,” said Brookhaven Town Supervisor Ed Romaine in a statement.