Bong Water Is Now A Crime

I'm still having trouble with this - so if you're caught with bong water you will be charged?

This was a Minnesota case, in the United States. It was a 4-3 split decision by the Minnesota Supreme Court. (To read my original blog post, short-URL: Minnesota Court Waters Down Legal Definition of Illegal Drugs: Toilet Water Now Criminal to Possess Minneapolis Criminal Law News )

If you are in Minnesota, the government (prosecutors and police) now have the power to charge bong water (or any "mixture") as a controlled substance crime based upon the weight of the water, if there are any illegal drugs in the water.

Here is what Justice Paul Anderson wrote in disagreeing with (dissenting from) the view of the majority:
The majority’s decision to permit bong water to be used to support a first-degree felony controlled-substance charge runs counter to the legislative structure of our drug laws, does not make common sense, and borders on the absurd…the result is a decision that has the potential to undermine public confidence in our criminal justice system.

For those who smoke, perhaps this is an excuse to do what common cleanliness would demand in any event? Dump the water after use? Could a person in Minnesota be charged with First Degree Controlled Substance crime based on the weight of the water? Strangely, the split majority of the Minnesota Supremes says "sure." Does that mean if you are busted that this will be charged? I remain skeptical.

The real value of the case, in my view, is the "Emporer's New Clothes" story here. Just as people in the black-market can become complacent, then as a result, go down for a fall; the Prohibitionists now appear to be going insane, and trashing the "Weight" logic behind their own evil and twisted drugs crime laws! This could be the last gasp before legalization. If the public condemns these laws as absurd, they will soon fall! IMO.

Thomas C Gallagher, Lawyer
Gallagher Criminal Defense Services
310 Fourth Avenue South, Suite 8000
Minneapolis MN 55415
Office: 612-455-6162

Minneapolis Criminal Lawyers > MN Defense Attorney Gallagher
Minneapolis Criminal Lawyer T Gallagher, Minnesota Defense Attorney
Minneapolis Criminal Law News
 
I just had a scary thought...I saw a "home made bong" a while back made out of a watermelon...since that watermelon weight about 20 pounds, that would probably put the poor guy in for life without parole!

We really need to do something about this....too bad there's a thousand different groups out there, all failing because they don't want to work together to actually SOLVE THE PROBLEM!
 
I have no idea how this can happen in this day.Actually,it's the blow back from reforms that are taking hold around the world. You had to know the prohibitionist forces would try any and everything to maintain their empire of deceit.Look at the Harper government and the damage they have done to reform in our country.They also are a minority but seem to be able to manipulate opinion with the opposition in disarray.These people act in total separation from science,fact and reality.They claim people on drugs are operating in a vacuum of unreality.At least it's temporary when you use drugs.To water down a drug and then say it's felony weight defies all logic.Every police force in the state can now drop whatever they seize into a bucket and become hero's.:peace:
 
Glad I don't live there is all I can say.

Well said, i live in Quebec Canada... Bc and Quebec is the heaven for weed personally me and my friends smoke in the streets without any problems, we juste make sure we leave the bag inside we never got into any trouble for years and years ! cops just dont seem to care here...
 
Thats ridiculous! All I have to say is that I am really glad I'm from BC! In Canada we have way more leeway then in the states. Were lucky! I can smoke on my front porch and my neighbors just wave at me! :)
 
I have no idea how this can happen in this day.Actually,it's the blow back from reforms that are taking hold around the world. You had to know the prohibitionist forces would try any and everything to maintain their empire of deceit.Look at the Harper government and the damage they have done to reform in our country.They also are a minority but seem to be able to manipulate opinion with the opposition in disarray.These people act in total separation from science,fact and reality.They claim people on drugs are operating in a vacuum of unreality.At least it's temporary when you use drugs.To water down a drug and then say it's felony weight defies all logic.Every police force in the state can now drop whatever they seize into a bucket and become hero's.:peace:

The Canadian government is currently trying to pass two piece of legislation RIGHT NOW which, when combined, will destroy not only any hope of ever seeing cannabis legalized in Canada, but will make most natural herbs, vitamins and minderal supplements impossible to get without a prescription. Even better still is Bill C-15, which adopts the absolute worst of US Government controls, in the form of mandatory minimum sentencing...and we all know how well that's worked in the US!

To understand how these two criminal bills will work together to destroy freedom, pleas google Bill C-6 (or Bill C-51, as C-6 is merely a new name for what was defeated last year) and Bill C-15 ASAP! I'd pop in the links, but they seem to frown on any form of external links here...
 
There is a current bill aimed at white collar criminals and of course drug users.It goes after the lowest on the totem and eliminates drug court style sentences and community served sentences.This bill is the Harper governments lowest bill yet and takes reform and even drug court style justice right off the page.Any hint of current harm reduction style sentencing would go in the trash.This shows just how draconian the harper government would make our country if they had the majority that the population seems stupid enough to give them.Luckily,people seem to find a brain when an election is called and reject Harper's jail them all justice.The bill also eliminates parole after 1/3 of a prison sentence unless a pot smoker admits they are addicted and does the hoop jumping to show they are "cured".Bloody ridiculous.The current "crisis" in the economy is being used by Harper and his cronies to brainwash the public with their own money into fearing a change of government would destroy the country.People are actually dumb enough to swallow this as recent polls show.It's as scarry as hell.Quebec is the only province that seems to see through Harper.Cudos to Quebec.
 
the result is a decision that has the potential to undermine public confidence in our criminal justice system.

Not "has". "Does" is more like it. Is it any wonder that there is no respect for authority. They seem to have all the power and none of the brains.

Are leaders are no longer the heroes. More like the zeros.
 
Just when it looks like there's a light at the end of this long dark tunnel,bong water is a crime.Not only a crime but a way to turn microscopic traces of narcotic into sale weight and felony charges.It did say the bong was being used for meth?It's back to the days of we'll cure you if we have to kill you.I wonder what cave these judges were hiding out in for the past 40 years?Looking for Bin Laden no doubt.
 
It's pretty sickening to realize that arresting people and using bong water as evidence is a front end attack on marijuana end-users... No wonder our gov't is broke.
 
If the government wants to charge a more serious drug crime — what to do? Just add water! (Water is heavy — heavier than drugs. Drug crimes are based on weight. Water is not currently defined by law as an illegal drug.)

When I was in the Navy, we had MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheets) on all the different chemicals we may come in to contact with each day. We were required to familiarize ourselves with these sheets in case we needed emergency assistance, etc. One of our MSDS was on WATER. That's right, water. Why? Because it's possible to asphixiate yourself if you stick your head in a bucket of it. Seriously! Granted, I met plenty of people in the Navy that were dumb as a box of rocks, but not one of them entertained sticking their head in a bucket full of water.

This type of ruling points out the glorious stupidity of absolute power the police and judiciary enjoy.
 
utter lunacy. This isnt even funny, it just makes me fucking angry. I thought there were some pretty back-assward attitudes to pot flying around this country but this takes the cake. I've only lived in the US 2 years but I'm seriously considering leaving these days. The prohibitionist bullshit is just too stifling. Everyone still calls it 'marijuana' here for fucks sake, even the folk trying to have it leagalised. Marijuana is a slang term, always was. Its derrogatory and carries very negative connotations. People need to start using its proper scientific name, Cannabis, if any progress is to be made.
you are right! we do need to start calling it by its proper name and also need to educate people why it became illegal in the first place...through corruption in the system..
 
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