A woman living in Fargo, Minnesota has fallen under a loophole of a law that decriminalized drug paraphernalia.
In Minnesota, even if the objects contain residue from drugs, they can no longer be used as grounds for arrest. But this doesn’t apply to bong water, for some reason. And when Jessica Beske was pulled over with her car smelling like marijuana and full of drug paraphernalia including a bong, a glass jar that contained remnants of a crystal substance, the search had grounds for arrest.
The testing came out positive for methamphetamines, but she didn’t have any meth on her, just the residue. Typically this should all fall under what was decriminalized last year, but the bong water doesn’t fall into that category.
According to state law, if the water contains an illegal drug, then it’s considered the same as the drug itself. So now that the water was measured at 8 ounces, that’s basically like Beske had 8 ounces of meth, which is well over the 50 gram threshold for a felony. That’s what she’s been charged – first degree felony with a penalty of up to 30 years in prison and a million dollar fine.
It’s an absurd loophole, considering she clearly did not have over 50 grams of meth on her at the time of arrest. But the loophole remains, and hopefully Beske will be able to have this entire ordeal appealed.
The Minnesota Reformer goes into depth on the backstory of the bong water loophole, check it out here.
