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.”