A new item being sold next to candy and chocolates in convenience stores in White Rock, B.C., has some parents concerned.

Pipes often used to smoke drugs are showing up in shops along the beach in White Rock, a city about 45 kilometres from Vancouver.

Kerry Jackson, whose son took his own life after becoming addicted to crystal meth, says they have to go.

"Having our children normalized by the paraphernalia that we use to smoke it is not good for us, or good for them," Jackson told CTV Vancouver.

Jackson insists the pipes need to be taken off the shelves because they are just too tempting for children.

"They would never suspect that anything they sell could harm them, or could contribute to harming them like a so-called tobacco-type pipe."

Khodayar Faiyaz, the owner of the Sandcastle Mini-Market, insists the pipes are not used for drugs, but rather for smoking tobacco.

"If the people want to use drugs, they can use paper," he said, adding that he will only stop selling the pipes if they're deemed illegal.

However, White Rock councillor Matt Todd said that would be virtually impossible to do. In order to get the pipes off the shelves, the province would have to ban tobacco sales first.

"It feels like the right thing to do, but how to implement I'm just not sure that it's possible," said Todd.

"I mean, how do you define a pot pipe versus a tobacco pipe? How would you distinguish the two? I don't know that you can."

Jackson acknowledges it will be difficult to ban them.

"You have to prove that the item was sold primarily for illicit drug use. If you cannot prove that fact, then it's okay to sell it."

Another councillor is trying to smoke out the pipes.

White Rock councillor Catherine Ferguson wants to introduce a bylaw similar to one recently passed in Langley, B.C., prohibiting the sale of drug paraphernalia. Langley is east of Vancouver.

She told the White Rock Peace Arch News she was shocked when she saw a display of the pipes at a local convenience store.

"These drugs kill people and ruin lives," Ferguson told the newspaper. "As a community we don't want to be doing anything to encourage (drug use)."

Meanwhile, in Surrey, B.C., Mayor Dianne Watts said her council will being to look at banning drug pipe sales. Surrey is located near the Canada-U.S. border, and is about 40 minutes from Vancouver.

The bylaw prohibiting the sale of drug paraphernalia passed in Langley last week. However, it is not retroactive, so a second bylaw will require pipe sellers to buy a Drug Paraphernalia Dealer's License costing $1,000, says the Peace Arch News.

With a report from CTV Vancouver's St John Alexander