# In States With Legal Recreational Pot, Can You Say 'Bong' At The Head Shop? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 19, 2019, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-states-with-legal-recreational-pot-can-you-say-bong-at-the-head-shop/843657 "2019-11-19T16:17:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2019, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-states-with-legal-recreational-pot-can-you-say-bong-at-the-head-shop/843657/1 "2019-11-19T16:17:17Z")
I went to Denver a few months after Colorado legalized recreational cannabis, where at the dispensary the budtender and I openly spoke of THC content, Sativa vs. Indica, the type of high I could expect from this or that, and so on. But at the head shop down the street, there was a sign warning about the words customers couldn’t use, indicating that, at the time anyway, customers at head shops were still expected to play this game where they pretend that the devices they’re buying aren’t actually for the thing they’re used for. You had to say “water pipe” instead of “bong” **because they do not sell bongs because bongs are for cannabis**. Cannabis that you can legally buy six blocks down the street. Is that still the case in Colorado, and indeed, in other states where recreational is legal? Can you buy pot at the dispensary but then at the head shop still have to pretend you’re buying stuff for tobacco? Or have your state’s paraphernalia laws caught up with your cannabis laws? ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2019, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-states-with-legal-recreational-pot-can-you-say-bong-at-the-head-shop/843657/2 "2019-11-19T16:49:54Z")
In Colorado, the paraphernalia law specifically excludes “marijuana accessories.” > **[Possession of "Drug Paraphernalia" in Colorado - CRS 18-18-428](https://www.shouselaw.com/co/defense/laws/drug-paraphernalia/)** > > Legal discussion on the Colorado crime of possessing drug paraphernalia, which is a drug petty offense carrying a maximum $100 fine. I’ve not checked, but WAG I’d imagine other states with legalized recreational marijuana have acted similarly. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2019, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-states-with-legal-recreational-pot-can-you-say-bong-at-the-head-shop/843657/3 "2019-11-19T23:01:59Z")
I don’t visit head shops, but I have never heard of this and can’t imagine it still happens. I haven’t noticed anything in shops that sell paraphernalia alongside other stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2019, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-states-with-legal-recreational-pot-can-you-say-bong-at-the-head-shop/843657/4 "2019-11-19T23:26:59Z")
I live in a legalized state, though we don’t have retail shops yet. I do have a medical card and you can’t piss into the wind with out getting a dispensary wet. That said, the head shop I frequent just recently sold me a bong. That’s what I asked for and that’s what I got. Although, a few years ago, before it was recreationally legal, I asked for a bong at a different shop and I was informed that “we call them ‘water pipes’ here.” You can call it a vacuum cleaner for all I care, can I have the red one please? ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2019, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-states-with-legal-recreational-pot-can-you-say-bong-at-the-head-shop/843657/5 "2019-11-20T00:58:36Z")
Huh. Reminds me of the little scene I saw acted out at a Jehovah’s Witnesses Assembly many years ago demonstrating how to talk to your kids about drugs. Kid: So then, this guy pulls out this joint… Parent: Hold on son. Joint? Do you mean a marijuana cigarette? Kid: Yeah. Parent: Then, don’t you think you should use the term ‘marijuana cigarette’? If you use slang terms like ‘joint’ the way worldly people do, you may start thinking the way worldly people do about marijuana use. I don’t remember much else of that little scene. I do remember thinking, man, that kid’s gonna get his face smashed in for being an insufferable prig. More likely, he just never spoke to his dad about toking ever again. Unless the kid got disfellowshipped for toking. Then his dad would never speak to the kid again, maybe. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Gay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3ab097/32.png) [@Enola\_Gay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Gay)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2019, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-states-with-legal-recreational-pot-can-you-say-bong-at-the-head-shop/843657/6 "2019-11-20T01:00:08Z")
In California, pot is now legal for recreational use & you can freely use the word bong in any shop that I have visited. But I do remember the days when you had to refer to a bong as a water pipe… ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2019, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-states-with-legal-recreational-pot-can-you-say-bong-at-the-head-shop/843657/7 "2019-11-20T04:46:21Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > Huh. Reminds me of the little scene I saw acted out at a Jehovah’s Witnesses Assembly many years ago demonstrating how to talk to your kids about drugs. > > Kid: So then, this guy pulls out this joint… > > Parent: Hold on son. Joint? Do you mean a marijuana cigarette? > > Kid: Yeah. > > Parent: Then, don’t you think you should use the term ‘marijuana cigarette’? If you use slang terms like ‘joint’ the way worldly people do, you may start thinking the way worldly people do about marijuana use. > I don’t remember much else of that little scene. I do remember thinking, man, that kid’s gonna get his face smashed in for being an insufferable prig. > > More likely, he just never spoke to his dad about toking ever again. Unless the kid got disfellowshipped for toking. Then his dad would never speak to the kid again, maybe. In 5th grade, a JW kid brought in an anti-masturbation tract. We passed it around because we knew masturbation as some weird thing and thought it was funny, until a teacher took it away. If some kids didn’t know what masturbation was before then, they knew after, or at least knew what to look up in the dictionary at home. ---
**Author:** ![Boudicca90](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boudicca90/32/16818_2.png) [@Boudicca90](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boudicca90)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2019, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-states-with-legal-recreational-pot-can-you-say-bong-at-the-head-shop/843657/8 "2019-11-20T09:37:32Z")
Here in Nevada pot is completely legal and the dispensary I go to sells bongs and pipes and other accessories as is, without secret code words or anything. Buying weed legally for the first time was a strange experience, but a welcome one since dealing with unsavory people was always a downside. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2019, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-states-with-legal-recreational-pot-can-you-say-bong-at-the-head-shop/843657/9 "2019-11-22T06:20:12Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > I went to Denver a few months after Colorado legalized recreational cannabis, where at the dispensary the budtender and I openly spoke of THC content, Sativa vs. Indica, the type of high I could expect from this or that, and so on. > > But at the head shop down the street, there was a sign warning about the words customers couldn’t use, indicating that, at the time anyway, customers at head shops were still expected to play this game where they pretend that the devices they’re buying aren’t actually for the thing they’re used for. You had to say “water pipe” instead of “bong” **because they do not sell bongs because bongs are for cannabis**. Cannabis that you can legally buy six blocks down the street. > > Is that still the case in Colorado, and indeed, in other states where recreational is legal? Can you buy pot at the dispensary but then at the head shop still have to pretend you’re buying stuff for tobacco? Or have your state’s paraphernalia laws caught up with your cannabis laws? I would definitely walk in to that shop singing the star wars theme with the word ‘bong’. Bong bong bong BONNNNNG BOOOOONG