So I’m confused ... would a hooka qualify as a bong? If not, why not.
Someone on this thread posted that bongs have a hole (known as a “carb” or carburetor) that lets air in to clear the pipe, and the water-pipes/hookahs do not. I’m not sure if that is the case in general, or maybe if that is just this state’s law that defines it that way. Seems like a very slim difference to me, since there are “bongs” that don’t have carbs, but use other mechanisms to do the same thing, and drilling a hole for an “after-market” upgrade would be easy anyway.
I looked into this for the Tommy Chong case.
IF your hookah has a hole for ventilation it is a "bong" and the feds will shoot your dog and terrorize your kids. A hookah bar that has no hole in their hookahs is OK, open a commercial storefront. This distinction is NOT spelled out well in the Controlled Substances Act. The feds seem to think that the presence of that hole means that the pipe is INTENDED to be used with illegal substances, because your traditional tobacco water pipe historically NEVER had a carbeuration hole.
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authorities.
(d) "Drug paraphernalia'' defined
The term "drug paraphernalia'' means any equipment, product, or material of any kind which is primarily intended or designed for use in manufacturing, compounding, converting, concealing, producing, processing, preparing, injecting, ingesting, inhaling, or otherwise introducing into the human body a controlled substance, possession of which is unlawful under this subchapter. It includes items primarily intended or designed for use in ingesting, inhaling, or otherwise introducing marijuana,\1\ cocaine, hashish, hashish oil, PCP, methamphetamine, or amphetamines into the human body, such as--
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\1\ So in original. Probably should be "marihuana,''.
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(1) metal, wooden, acrylic, glass, stone, plastic, or ceramic pipes with or without screens, permanent screens, hashish heads, or punctured metal bowls;
(2) water pipes;
(3) carburetion tubes and devices;
(4) smoking and carburetion masks;
(5) roach clips: meaning objects used to hold burning material, such as a marihuana cigarette, that has become too small or too short to be held in the hand;
(6) miniature spoons with level capacities of one-tenth cubic centimeter or less;
(7) chamber pipes;
(8) carburetor pipes;
(9) electric pipes;
(10) air-driven pipes;
(11) chillums;
(12) bongs;
(13) ice pipes or chillers;
(14) wired cigarette papers; or
(15) cocaine freebase kits.
(e) Matters considered in determination of what constitutes drug paraphernalia
In determining whether an item constitutes drug paraphernalia, in addition to all other logically relevant factors, the following may be considered:
(1) instructions, oral or written, provided with the item concerning its use;
(2) descriptive materials accompanying the item which explain or depict its use;
(3) national and local advertising concerning its use;
(4) the manner in which the item is displayed for sale;
(5) whether the owner, or anyone in control of the item, is a legitimate supplier of like or related items to the community, such as a licensed distributor or dealer of tobacco products;
(6) direct or circumstantial evidence of the ratio of sales of the item(s) to the total sales of the business enterprise;
(7) the existence and scope of legitimate uses of the item in the community; and
(8) expert testimony concerning its use.
(f) Exemptions
This section shall not apply to--
(1) any person authorized by local, State, or Federal law to manufacture, possess, or distribute such items; or
(2) any item that, in the normal lawful course of business, is imported, exported, transported, or sold through the mail or by any other means, and traditionally intended for use with tobacco products, including any pipe, paper, or accessory.