Forty-three-year-old Jessica Beske from Fargo, North Dakota was pulled over by local police while traveling through Minnesota. Now she faces prison time for possessing bong water and other cannabis paraphernalia.
According to a report from the Minnesota Informer, Beske was pulled over for speeding on May 8. When officers approached her vehicle, they smelled cannabis and searched her car. While they didn’t find any cannabis products, they did find a bong (with bong water), as well as a glass jar with a “crystal substance” inside, and an undefined number of pipes.
A residue test revealed that the bong water, the paraphernalia, and the glass jar all contained traces of methamphetamine. Additionally, the bong weighted eight ounces, but the jar allegedly weighed 13.2 ounces “in total with the packaging.” According to Beske, the jar was the “packaging” and there wasn’t enough of what was inside for law enforcement to weigh on its own, so it had to be weighed along with the jar. She also claims that she had no drugs on her at the time of the incident.
However, Beske has now been charged with first-degree felony possession specifically because of the bong water. State law equates eight ounces of bong water with eight ounces of methamphetamine.
Minnesota-based drug reform activist, Kurtis Hanna, told the Minnesota Informer that prosecuting Beske is an abuse of the law’s intent. “The legislative intent behind the weight-based thresholds is to approximate whether a person is an end user or a dealer,” Hanna said. “The fact that some county prosecutors are subverting that clear intent and are charging end users as though they are wholesalers, ruining their lives in the process, is shameful.”
Law enforcement also proceeded to seize her car, and $2,400 in cash (which was verified as casino winnings from the night before …
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Author: Nicole Potter / High Times
