Minnesota Ends Criminal Penalties for Bong Water

A judiciary and public safety bill signed by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz over
the weekend included provisions ending criminal penalties for bong water,
the Minnesota Reformer reports. Previously, quantities of bong water
greater than four ounces could be treated like the pure version of whatever
substance the bong was used to smoke – 4 ounces of bong water used to
consume methamphetamine, for example, could lead to a first-degree felony
charge carrying a 30-year prison term and $1 million fine.

The language in the bill signed by Walz, removes that provision and
specifies that for charging purposes, a drug mixture “does not include the
fluid used in a water pipe or any amount of a controlled substance that is
dissolved in the pipe’s fluid.” The change applies retroactively to August
2023 – a broader drug paraphernalia bill that took effect at that time.

Alicia Granse of the American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing
in court a women charged with a first-degree felony on account of water
allegedly found in her bong, told the Reformer the organization “is glad to
see the legislature fixed this loophole that allowed rogue prosecutors to
put people suffering from addiction in prison for smoking drugs out of a
bong.”

The state Supreme Court ruled in 2009 that bong water could be legally
considered a drug, relying on the testimony of a Minnesota State Patrol
officer who claimed bong water could be kept “for future use… either
drinking it or shooting it in the veins.”