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A head shop in Florence, Italy.

A head shop is a retail outlet specializing in paraphernalia related to consumption of cannabis, other recreational drugs, and New Age herbs, as well as generally selling counterculture art, magazines, music, clothing, and home decor. Products typically include bongs (called water pipes in countries with drug paraphernalia laws), roach clips, glass pipes, pipe screens, rolling papers, rolling machines, scales or balances, whipped-cream chargers (which contain nitrous oxide), dildos, vibrators, other items meant to enhance sexual intercourse, blacklight-responsive posters, incense, cigarette lighters, and products claimed to give false negative results for drugs on urinalysis tests.

Head shops originated in the 1960s in cities with a high concentration of college-age youth, often growing out of independently owned poster or candle stores. Sources cite the Psychedelic Shop on Haight Street in San Francisco, California, operated by U.S. Army veteran Ron Thelin and his younger brother Jay, as the first in the United States ^{[1] [2] [3] [4]}--it opened on January 3, 1966. Head shops served as an important outlet for the underground comics of Robert Crumb and other counterculture cartoonists. The shop's popularity eventually waned with the aging of that era's baby boomer generation, and with the retail mainstream discovering and co-opting aspects of that market niche, such as alternative music and eco-friendly products. The oldest head shop in the United Kingdom is Head In The Clouds, opened in Pottergate, Norwich, by Martin Wyatt in April 1971, and still going strong today.^{[citation needed]} Another very important UK head shop of the earliest years was North London's DARK THEY WERE AND GOLDEN-EYED, named for the famous Ray Bradbury science fiction short story. It was instrumental in introducing England's aspiring cartoonists to the burgeoning "underground comix" style of San Francisco and Berkeley. It no longer exists.

In the United States, head shops exist in a legal grey area because of the nature of the materials they sell, which can be used for both legal and illegal drugs. The sale of illegal drug paraphernalia is considered illegal in some states.^{[citation needed]} Head shops often don't consider their products to be illegal drug paraphernalia because they are intended for use with herbal highs, tobacco, and other legal substances.^{[citation needed]}

By the early 2000s, with the passage of state laws allowing for medicinal marijuana, head shops have reemerged regionally and on the Internet to service that health market.

In many head shops, a sign will be posted (and often reiterated verbally) stating that customer references regarding the use of the shop's products for illegal drug use will result in either suspension of all sales for that time period, and/or removal of the customer from the shop. Head shops often place signs stating that the products sold are "for tobacco use only" or "not for use with illegal substances".^{[citation needed]}

Online headshops often make their users comply to strict disclaimers before they are allowed to shop with them. Users must agree to such disclaimers before they can even view any products.

Smart shops are shops, prominently found in the Netherlands, that sell psychoactive substances in addition to the drug paraphernalia found in head shops. Most smart shops sold psychedelic mushrooms before they were officially banned.

• The Tillsonburg News, August 3, 2005: "Potent herb not regulated in Canada"
• The Daily Transcript, July 19, 2004: "Head shop regulation is good for business"
• CNN transcript, June 24, 2003: "New Recreational Drug Poses Questions For DEA"
• The Christian Science Monitor, December 17, 1980: "Nationwide Drive Against 'Head Shops' Runs Into a Federal Court Snag"
• Anchorage Press, Sept. 8-14, 2005: "Why We All Can't Just Get a Bong"

• Alternative culture
• Underground music
• Underground comix
• Underground press
• Underground film