Pawlenty strikes down bong-water bill

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Gov. Tim Pawlenty on Tuesday vetoed a bill that a bipartisan group of legislators offered in response to a Minnesota Supreme Court ruling that found bong water counts as a controlled substance.

The Minnesota Supreme Court last October ruled 4-3 that the water in a glass bong found during a search of a Rice County woman’s home was a controlled substance. The mixture in the bong tested positive for methamphetamine.

The woman had been charged with first degree possession of a controlled substance because she had 37.17 grams of bong water, according to court papers. The district court, however, found that allowing the weight of the water to enhance the alleged crime to felony first-degree possession was “unjust.”

The high court’s majority opinion was written by G. Barry Anderson, which reversed two lower court rulings. “Bong water is plainly a ‘substance’ because it is material of a particular kind or constitution. The bong water is a ‘mixture’ because it is a ‘substance containing a controlled substance’-methamphetamine,” Anderson wrote.

Writing for the dissenters, Justice Paul Anderson said the majority opinion “borders on the absurd.”

Sen. Sandy Pappas, DFL-St. Paul, and Rep. Phyllis Kahn, DFL-Minneapolis, introduced legislation to prevent law enforcement from lumping the weight of water in a “controlled substance water filtration device” together with the actual drugs. The bill wouldn’t apply to cases where the bong has four or more fluid ounces of water.

The bill unanimously passed the Senate and passed the House 129-2.

Pawlenty’s veto is a potent opportunity for puns. And it appears that Pawlenty couldn’t resist taking a crack at the rhetorical game in his veto letter:

“The bill waters down current criminal justice practices and standards related to the weight of controlled substances found in water pipes by prohibiting prosecutors from including the weight of water pipe fluid in a criminal charge if the weight of that fluid is fewer than four ounces.”