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When Sylvia Quinton sees individually-wrapped cigars for sale at local gas stations, it feels like a tacit acceptance of the fact that somebody is going to be smoking marijuana.

"We need new laws to address the popular youth drug culture in the county," said Quinton, whose group, Suitland Life Development Corp., is lobbying the county to ban so-called "blunt" cigars from area stores.

But ask national policy experts, and they'll say a ban is just blowing smoke.

"This is very likely going to fail abjectly, like most other efforts to thwart the free market," said Allen St. Pierre, director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws in Washington, D.C., who said there is little evidence suggesting that the number of smokers will decrease.

This fall, the Prince George's County Council will decide whether it's worth a try anyway, as they consider banning sale of tobacco products normally associated with marijuana use from most stores, gas stations and liquor stores. County law already bans the sale of rolling papers, which are primarily used to make cigarettes by wrapping tobacco in the paper.

Supporters of the measure include family groups and community activists who say selling cheap cigars encourages illegal drug use. If police or county inspectors catch a store selling the products, they could face a $1,000 fine and up to six months in jail if the bill passes.

The bill was introduced in June at the request of County Council Chairman Samuel H. Dean (D-Dist. 6) of Mitchellville. He did not return calls for comment. A council committee will review the legislation when it resumes meeting next month.

Nicknamed for the "Philly Blunt" brand, the cigars are usually cheap, sometimes flavored and have a tough outer shell that can be emptied out and filled with marijuana.

According to the county police department, 1,621 people were arrested in 2007 for drug possession. More than 1,200 of those cases were for marijuana.

A spokesman for the department declined to comment on the latest bill, saying the department had not seen the legislation.

Quinton, whose group lobbies for drug-free communities, said banning blunts is the next step in clamping down on drug use.

"Over the years, we've addressed issues of underage alcohol and cigarettes," she said. "Our kids have moved on."

Banning blunts has had a mixed track record so far. Both Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia have passed laws banning the sale, though a court in Pennsylvania last year invalidated the law there.

Attempts to apply the blunt ban across Maryland failed this year in the General Assembly over protests that it infringed on legal tobacco use. If Prince George's passes the ban, it would be the first county in the state to do so.

"This is an environmental strategy," said Quinton, who said the change would raise community "norms and perceptions."

"Anything's worth a try," she said. "At least it will put it on our radar."

Quinton compared the law to recent national changes that require people buying certain kinds of over-the-counter medicine to submit their driver's license, since the chemicals can be used to manufacture methamphetamine.

But it hasn't worked, St. Pierre said.

"Methamphetamines are just available now," said St. Pierre. "Now you and I just have to go through this nitwittery to buy something over the counter. …While it's certainly well-intentioned, the citizen in the free market pays the price primarily."

Items traditionally associated with marijuana use have long been a cause for legislation in Maryland. Most stores that sell rolling papers, water pipes — long tubes used for drawing smoke through water in a vase or bowl and cooling it —and other items skirt drug paraphernalia laws by listing them for tobacco use.

In an effort to protect legitimate use, the blunt ban would not apply to stores that get at least 25 percent of sales from tobacco products, according to the county bill.

"If it's a tobacco product you want, go to a tobacco store," Quinton said.

The loophole could help local tobacco stores, St. Pierre said.

"It sounds like that tobacconist is going to be getting some exclusive business," he said.

St. Pierre warned that banning blunts will likely just encourage users to try other, less safe methods, pointing to cases where pot smokers have used hardware pipes, soda cans and other means.

"Yes, smoking marijuana is not advised. But when people start smoking through a copper pipe, what then, legislators?"

St. Pierre said his organization doesn't support blunt cigars, either.

"We don't recommend it," he said. "Tobacco can be very problematic when used over a long time."

E-mail Daniel Valentine at dvalentine@gazette.net.