Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/06/11/woman-faces-30-years-in-prison-for-bong-water.html
…
18 Likes
34 Likes
Proving yet again that plea bargaining is toxic to justice, and is used to intimidate people into confessions to juice the conviction rate.
This may be law,but it sure isn’t justice, and any reasonable jury should just refuse to convict on so-called crimes like this.
34 Likes
That DA and arresting deputies should be forced to drink a gallon of bong water each. That would be funny to watch.
11 Likes
11 Likes
Would you get high from this?
I had a friend who used to take their vape remains and stick them in a coffee filter tied a jar with a rubber band and run everyclear through it, then they’d drink the everclear.
Apparently it was known as “green dragon”.
6 Likes
i don’t think this is your run-of-the-mill cannabis bong water.
yes, one can smoke methamphetamine through a water pipe “bong”. the resulting precipitate in that water may still have some active chemistry of the meth.
should this obviously dilute solution of amphetamine be treated as pure crystal meth? hell no! but drinking it would result in an amphetamine high, unlike the barf-inducing weed bong water quaff.
all of that being said, this prosecutor is on a power trip and that is the whole story here. power tripping fascist bullshit against a woman of meagre means and traumatic relationship.
18 Likes
sorry i didnt read the article, meth and weed are two very different things…
no she shouldnt be in prison but… having seen some meth addicts in my day coercion into getting clean sometimes isn’t the worst thing
(tho this legal precedent is fucked even if it’s not a cuddly substance)
Seriously, JFC. And it gets worse!
Deputies further reported that the bong water weighed 8 ounces and, somewhat confusingly, that the crystal substance weighed 13.2 grams “in total with the packaging.”
I know cops like to exaggerate their hauls, but this is the first time I’ve seen them claim the packaging as part of the drug weight - because there wasn’t a measurable quantity of the effing drug.
Edit: And the determination that bong water is legally the same as a drug? That hinged 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.” So some cop makes up some total bullshit, and some credulous judges pass a bullshit ruling that 15 years later is still sending people to prison.
18 Likes
What?
No they fucking don’t.
And anyone desperate enough to do that should be given help, not prison
Also, fuck Tim Pawlenty for vetoing a 2010 bill that passed with 99% support which would have meant bong water possession would not be prosecuted.
10 Likes
and yet, not using coercion yields the best results for the most number of people. so, it’s not like society’s choices are: prison or do nothing.
the ever present threat of [incarceration] adds to the pile of reasons to avoid seeking help. and a criminal record makes it even that much more difficult to achieve a stable life afterwards.
of the available options, we’ve chosen pretty much the worst method of reducing addiction. ( we have chosen pretty much the best way of filling prisons however )
11 Likes
“… we found drugs in the vehicle, and the vehicle weighed 4,000 pounds” 
13 Likes
The DA is supposed to be concerned with justice; not with obtaining the maximum amount of charges that can possibly be filed and the maximum amount of punishment that can be inflicted. This should be a diversion case. Into treatment.
Scott Buhler is a malignant asshole.
19 Likes
I believe you mean, “we found drugs weighing 4439.8 pounds, in total with the vehicle.”
I fully expect some enterprising cops to start doing this.
9 Likes
Reminds me of the story in the Hamilton’s Pharmacopeia episode about DMT. The person here was caught receiving mimosa hostilis root bark, from which DMT can be extracted at about 1-2%. Of course the cops charged him with the weight of the bark as the weight of DMT.
8 Likes
Scott Buhler, the assistant county attorney prosecuting Beske’s case, said “I will not comment on any pending cases. The criminal complaint filed in Ms. Beske’s case speaks for itself.”
Indeed, it does speak for itself, and it says, “Christ, what an asshole, you are Buhler!”
6 Likes
Why would the jury not call double jeopardy on the DA for application of deprecated law? They could use a bit of jail time or diversion, that DA?
Blockquote
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.”
That’s a much bigger what the actual fuck!?
3 Likes
It’s incredible, infuriatingly nonsensical bullshit.
Bong water from cannabis use is utterly noxious.
4 Likes
It was meth bong water, but since there wasn’t enough meth residue to charge her, they added the weight of an empty glass jar and the volume of the bong water.
It is absolutely bullshit.
Is meth bong water even really a thing? Idk
1 Like
