During my time back in Idaho to help with 2018 and 2020 medical marijuana campaigns, I was consulting with a small businessman who had opened up a hemp store. It sold hemp clothing, soap, oils, and various counter-culture items, like hacky sacks and posters.

Business wasn’t very good, however. The businessman wanted to expand into the burgeoning distribution of CBD products and “glass”—a euphemism for marijuana bongs and pot pipes.

I told him that the CBD products were of dubious legality. They’d be okay so long as they contained absolutely no THC. Even though the U.S. Farm Bill of 2018 had legalized hemp (cannabis of less than 0.3% THC) and its products, Idaho has always had strict zero tolerance laws against tetrahydrocannabinols (THC) of any variation.

The “glass,” though, would be a terrible idea. Mere possession of a pot pipe is a misdemeanor with a potential one year jail stay. Making or selling a bong, however, is a felony with up to nine years in prison and a $30,000 fine. Those items, by the way, don’t have to have been used to be considered paraphernalia. The law allows “circumstantial evidence” that someone “should reasonably know” an item is paraphernalia despite “the innocence of an owner.” It’s why Idaho (along with a couple of other states) are “no sell” states to various purveyors of glass on the internet.

But so-and-so has had a glass shop open for years, the businessman whined. Have at it, I told him, but I won’t be a part of a business selling glass in Idaho.

Turns out, I’m a wise consultant. Boise Police recently raided many of these glass shops and ordered them to remove the products or face prosecution. One glass shop owner is out $60,000 in inventory.

Meanwhile, over in Idaho Falls, a drunk driver got into a fight with the two cops who arrested him, breaking the hand of one of them. Since it was his third DUI, he earned a felony DUI charge to go with the two felony counts of assaulting an officer. Prosecutors gave him a deal to plead guilty one of the assaults and reduced misdemeanor DUI charge. He was sentenced to five years probation.

Over in Nampa, a young man was caught by police in the act of beating and strangling his girlfriend in the presence of their child. “The victim told officers that, before they arrived, [he] had punched her in the face and knocked her over.  He then continued punching and strangling her until the Officer arrived and intervened. Medical records show the abuse left the victim with a broken eye orbital and numerous cuts and bruises on her face and head. Subsequent medical records also showed the victim suffered a traumatic brain injury,” a police spokesman told Idaho News 6.

“This is one of—if not the worst—domestic violence and strangulation cases that I have ever seen during my time as a prosecutor,” said Deputy Prosecutor Monica Morrison, who successfully got the man convicted on two felony charges of attempted strangulation and domestic battery in the presence of a child. He’ll spend eight years in prison.