Minnesota was the target of national jokes in 2009, when the Minnesota Supreme Court decided that bongwater could be considered as a legal drug.
Christopher Ingraham Minnesota Reformer
Minnesota authorities would no longer be able to charge people with major drug crimes solely on the basis of the dirty water in their bongs—thanks to a provision in the 192-page judiciary and public safety bill that was sent to Gov. Tim Walz of the DFL, over the past weekend. It’s likely that he will sign it.
According to current laws, bong water in quantities greater than 4 ounces is treated as the uncut, pure version of the substance that was smoked with the bong. It can have serious criminal consequences: for example, 4 ounces bong water consumed with methamphetamine could trigger a first-degree crime punishable by up to 30 year in prison or a fine of $1 million.
New language eliminates the provision. It specifies, for purposes of charging, that a drug mix “doesn’t include any fluid that was used to fill a waterpipe or any controlled substance dissolved within the fluid.” Changes would be made retroactively up to 2023. They are in accordance with an broader bill decriminalizing drug paraphernalia.
Prosecutors rarely charge crimes involving bong waters because people instinctively understand that 8 ounces dirty bong-water is different from 8 ounces pure methamphetamine.
As one lawyer colorfully described it earlier this year to The Reformer, “Counting dirt bong water is pure drugs would be like counting a bottle of beer full of backwash and cigarettes butts 80-proof liquor.”
It does happen. A prosecutor in northwest Minnesota brought first-degree charges of drug possession against Jessica Beske last year, based on the water that was allegedly discovered inside her bong.
If Walz signed the bill, the case in question would be overturned because of its retroactive provisions.
The ACLU-MN, who represents Beske before the court, is pleased that the legislator has closed this loophole which allowed rogue prosecutors put addicted people in jail for using a bong to smoke drugs. “Ms. Beske, and other people like her, can no longer suffer this cruel and uncommon treatment.”
Minnesota was the subject of jokes across the country after its Supreme Court decided in 2009 that bongwater could be considered as a legal drug. The justices relied, in part, on the testimony of a Minnesota State Patrol officer who claimed that drug users keep bong water “for future use…either drinking it or shooting it in the veins.”
In the year following, lawmakers attempted to criminalize small quantities of bongwater. But then-Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R), in an effort to portray a tough-on-crime image ahead of his planned presidential campaign, vetoed the bill.
Minnesota Reformer published this article first.
Washington Lawmakers Withdraw Funds from Groups Working To Overturn Unconstitutional drug Convictions