I think your situation is the norm, police or the prosecutors will over charge to try to force a plea deal. I don't think they play fair or unfair, it's just become the norm, which is really sad. The laws for criminal law are set as bright line rules, but because every case can be just a little different it brings in a lot of grey areas that unfortunately have to be argued in court. I'm glad you were able to prove your side of your case, sometimes it takes that kind of info to educate a judge about certain things. This is especially true with older judges and technology, most older judges have no idea what Skype or FaceTime or the newest tech is because they didn't grow up with it and don't use it. Sound like the same thing with the vape pen, I'm sure the judge had no idea about the differences, and you probably helped some future defendant by giving that judge the info. There is no way for every judge to know or understand everything there is to know, and with the growing number of ways to consume cannibis I'm sure there are plenty of judges, prosecutors, cops and people in general who have no knowledge of all of them.