Lawmakers Should Clarify Drug Paraphernalia Import Provisions, Says Lawyer
Congress should provide clarity around imports of products that can be used both as drug paraphernalia and for legitimate purposes, Harris Bricken lawyer Fred Rocafort said in a blog post. The current approach under the Controlled Substances Act results in CBP relying on marketing materials and social media posts to determine whether or not a product will be used lawfully, Rocafort said. "There is something unsettling in CBP’s approach," he said. "On the one hand, the agency requires importers to demonstrate that their products are intended for lawful use, even when potential legal uses are obvious." For example, a 2008 ruling found that grinders were considered drug paraphernalia. "Those grinders that were the subject of the ruling letter could be used to grind tobacco or tea, as the importer contended, and this is something that CBP did not deny," he said. "Yet CBP will go out of its way to find evidence that supports a finding that an item is drug paraphernalia."
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Adding to the complicated situation, "the legalization of hemp by the 2018 Farm Bill adds a further layer of capriciousness to the application of drug paraphernalia laws to items that have both lawful and unlawful uses," he said. "Following the enactment of that law, some cannabis is lawful, period. Trying to ascertain if a product’s primary intended use is with hemp or marijuana is an even greater fool’s errand than trying to distinguish between tobacco and cannabis products. As with so many other issues that plague our legal system, the real solution to this absurd state of affairs is in the hands of the U.S. Congress. It is high time that lawmakers took a massive pair of scissors to the CSA’s drug paraphernalia provisions, and relieve our overworked law enforcement officers from the long hours they must spend sifting through Insta posts. #smdh"