Yahoo Answers antics

This reply, to a question on Yahoo Answers is probably completely irrelevant because I didn’t read the original question properly, but I did have fun writing it

The person who is asking the question is referring to `scale’, which I interpreted as bathroom scales, the things that you weigh yourself on.
But he is in fact referring to the small scales that are used to weigh cooking ingredients - and which are also apparently used by drug dealers to weigh drugs.
Luckily, Yahoo says that it’s ok to have fun when responding to questions. Anyway, here’s the question and here’s my reply:
Question: Did you know that it is illegal to own your own scale?!?
My answer: Yes it is illegal to own your own scale - and for a very good reason.
Your scale might not be accurate, it might claim that you weigh more than you actually do.
Now, if an overweight person decided to break into your home, and for some strange reason decided to weigh themselves on your scale, and the scale told them that they weighed a lot more than they really do, they might become depressed about it.
You would then have an overweight burglar who is pretty depressed in  your home - depressed about his weight, not depressed about being in your home.
Statistics have proved that someone like this is likely to  wake you up and tell you all about his `weight problem’, which of course might not exist, due to your scales possibly being inaccurate.
You would then have to suffer the ordeal of (A) having your home burgled, and (B) listening to a complete stranger’s non-existent problem.
This is why the government - in fact all governments, right around the world - have decreed that it is illegal to own your own scale.
They figure you have enough to worry about.

According to the person who asked the question,  in the United States it is illegal to own your own scale because scales are regarded as `drug paraphenalia’. I have no idea whether this is true, but he states in his post: `Drug paraphernalia is any legitimate equipment, product, or material that is modified for making, using, or concealing illegal drugs.
Under the Federal Drug Paraphernalia Statute, which is part of the Controlled Substances Act, it is illegal to possess, sell, transport, import, or export drug paraphernalia as defined. The law gives specific guidance on determining what constitutes drug paraphernalia. Many states have also enacted their own laws prohibiting drug paraphernalia.’