The U.S. Court of International Trade (“CIT”) issued a recent opinion that indicates the import or export of “drug paraphernalia” to or from states where cannabis is legal represents an exception to the federal ban imposed by the Controlled Substances Act (“CSA”). Under 21 U.S.C. § 863(d), “drug paraphernalia” is broadly defined as:
any equipment, product, or material of any kind which is primarily intended or designed for use in manufacturing, compounding, converting, concealing, producing, processing, preparing, injecting, ingesting, inhaling, or otherwise introducing into the human body a controlled substance.
We’ve written about why this expansive definition may make decisions to import not worth the risk here.
Plaintiff Eteros had attempted to import trimming equipment (the “Mobius M108S Trimmer” to be exact) through the Port of Blaine, Washington in April 2021. When the equipment was presented to Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) for examination, and CBP issued a Notice of Detention to Eteros. Eteros timely responded to the Notice, and indicated that while the equipment was intended to be used with hemp, it also was capable of use with marijuana. It also made two arguments:
That the equipment didn’t constitute drug paraphernalia at all because it was going to
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