New paraphernalia laws don't take effect until December but a Durham reverend wants stores to comply with them now.

"Why wait another day? Why not ask store owners to be good servants," Melvin Whitley said Friday. "Safe communities are good for business."

On Thursday, Whitley once again went to three convenience stores to buy glass stems that he says addicts can easily use as a crack pipe.

"Sixteen years ago this was my instrument. This was my tool of misery," he said as he held one up. "I think it's wonderful that today ... I'm God's tool of hope."

Whitley pushed lawmakers to regulate the glass tubes for years now. Last week, Governor Bev Perdue signed a law that will force store owners to keep better track of who's buying novelties like glass pens and "rose in a glass."

"They'll find ways and means to get high," Whitley said. "But why make it easier for them?"

Starting Dec. 1, retailers will require buyers of potential paraphernalia to:

• present a photo ID that includes the person's name and current address
• enter his or her name and current address on a record that the retailer keeps on hand to track these items
• sign his or her name, verifying by signature the glass tube or splitter will not be used as drug paraphernalia in violation of the criminal laws of the State of North Carolina.

Bekee Food Store owner Steven Ikecachukwu said the products like the "glass pen" only account for less than two percent of sales in the store, but can be used legitimately.

"If you look at it ... it's a pen. You can use it to write," he said. "It's none of my business to ask them - ‘what are you going to use it for.'"

He thinks regulating the items should start somewhere else.

"If this is a great problem that people abuse some of this, why should the government allow the products even brought into the country," he said. "Most of them are made overseas ... from China."

But Whitley believes controlling problems starts in communities.

"It's like saying the pharmaceutical companies shouldn't be allowed to sell narcotics. It's regulated," he said. "What we're doing now is regulating the sell of an instrument that we already know has a history towards drug addiction."

He hopes store owners will feel the new regulations will mean keeping items like glass tubes on-hand isn't worth the work required.

"Why not send a message: if you want [drug users] to take one step towards recovery, why not use this as a step to say ‘we understand; we're going to help you to do so.' They can take one small step and with this we take a small step."

Read more about the new law.