Printed Bong Spells the End for the War on Drug Paraphernalia

Several years ago in Reason, I
considered
the motivation for the war on marijuana paraphernalia. Mary Beth
Buchanan, at the time the U.S. attorney for western Pennsylvania,
explained it to me this way: “By enforcing the drug paraphernalia
laws, we will…eliminate the demand for illegal substances by
eliminating those products that are used to ingest and inhale
illegal substances.”

That goal seemed excessively ambitious to me, since even if the
government somehow managed to stamp out the drug paraphernalia
market, there would be plenty of do-it-yourself alternatives,
several of which I outlined in a
sidebar. I originally proposed including a fold-up pipe,
rolling papers, or some other sample of actual drug pharapernalia
in that issue of the magazine, a plan that foundered on concerns
both practical and legal. But the ultimate
refutation of Mary Beth Buchanan’s argument, according to an
account posted today at Inside 3DP, was delivered by an
Israeli named Ben who tinkered with his 3D printer until it
produced a plastic bong superior to the locally available
alternatives:

Ben likes his marijuana but finds it difficult to find decent
and reasonably priced bongs in Israel, where he lives.

Instead of paying for overpriced and poorly designed bongs, Ben
decided to make his own. Ben’s other specialty,
or expertise, is 3D printing, and after building
his Rostock 3D printer (RepRap project), he decided to
start experimenting will all kinds of prototypes—one of them the
now-famous bong.

The idea came came to life after a fun night out. Ben and his
merry group of friends were chatting about 3D printing and its
potential when someone suggested that Ben should print a bong.
After initially laughing at the idea, Ben went to his laptop and
started browsing for bong models. Eventually he found an STL file
of a bong on Thingiverse, Makerbot’s community for sharing and
making 3D printed things. The rest is history.

Give it up, Mary Beth.