![](\"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/MM_Bill_Tracker_V5_blank-18.jpg\"){kind=tracking}
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
A federal court has issued a significant ruling that could set a precedent allowing marijuana paraphernalia to be legally imported from other countries into states that have enacted legalization.<\/p>\n
While the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA) prohibits the import or export of drug paraphernalia, the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT) determined in a ruling late last month that state-level legalization provides an exception to the ban.<\/p>\n
The case was raised after the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) blocked the import of cannabis trimming equipment from Canada to Washington State in 2021, denying entry on the basis of its interpretation of the paraphernalia statute of the CSA.<\/p>\n
The company, Eteros Technologies USA, filed suit, arguing both that the paraphernalia rule doesn\u2019t apply to them because the device is primarily intended to be used to trim federally legal hemp, and that even if it were for marijuana, a provision of federal law protects the importation of paraphernalia that\u2019s \u201cauthorized\u201d by localities or states.<\/p>\n
Federal law defines drug paraphernalia as \u201cany 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
But it carves out an exception to the import and export ban for any person \u201cauthorized by local, State, or Federal law to manufacture, possess, or distribute such items.\u201d<\/p>\n
That statute creates an exemption to the broader CSA prohibition, the court determined in a ruling that could have major implications for ancillary marijuana companies that have struggled to navigate the state-federal cannabis policy conflict.<\/p>\n
While the Justice Department tried to argue that the intent of Congress in enacting the ban was to create uniformity in the policy, the court disagreed, saying that the statutory exemption shows lawmakers \u201cclearly contemplated nonuniform applications.\u201d<\/p>\n
It further dismissed the government\u2019s argument that the exception was only meant to prevent individual people from being prosecuted, ruling that a plain reading of statute shows that it also covers the paraphernalia items themselves.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn sum, upon consideration of the ordinary meaning of the statutory terms, relevant case law, and Congress\u2019s purpose, the court determines that Eteros is \u2018authorized\u2019 under 21 U.S.C. \u00a7 863(f)(1) such that \u00a7 863(a)(3)\u2019s federal prohibition on importing drug paraphernalia does not apply to Eteros\u2019 Subject Merchandise at the Port of Blaine, Washington,\u201d the opinion, reported<\/a> earlier by Above The Law, says.<\/p>\n \u201cThe court reiterates that it is not within its province to weigh policy arguments regarding the merits of legislation or to entertain invitations to rewrite legislation; its charge is to interpret and apply the statute as enacted by Congress,\u201d it continues<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cInsofar as the Government seeks a different statute, that argument can be addressed to Congress.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The case is expected to be appealed by the feds, but stakeholders are cheering the decision. Attorney Richard O\u2019Neill, who represented Eteros, said<\/a> in a press release that the court\u2019s ruling \u201cis a huge win for the cannabis industry.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cStates\u2019 authorization of persons to manufacture, possess, and\/or distribute marijuana-related drug paraphernalia serves to trigger the federal authorization exemption, therefore exempting cannabis-related paraphernalia from the import prohibitions which prevent the importation of all other forms of drug paraphernalia,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Aaron Smith, CEO of the National Cannabis Industry Association (NCIA), said that the organization \u201ccommends\u201d Eteros \u201con this important issue and bringing about this win for the legal cannabis industry.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLegitimate businesses all over the world are serving the legal cannabis industry, which generates hundreds of thousands of U.S. jobs,\u201d he said. \u201cHopefully, this decision will ensure that these law-abiding businesses will no longer face unfair impediments to importation or exportation of legal products across our borders.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, CIT separately dismissed a different case brought by a cannabis company that challenged CBP for seizing an import of its extraction products that the agency determined to be drug paraphernalia.<\/p>\n But the company\u2019s lawsuit focused on technical disputes related to the agency\u2019s notification of the seizure, rather than the overarching importation authorization. CIT said<\/a> that the matter needed to be settled in a different federal judicial jurisdiction.<\/p>\n Both of these cases concern paraphernalia imported into states from other countries, but there\u2019s also a growing conversation in the U.S. around a different kind of cross-border cannabis commerce, with certain states taking steps to prepare for interstate trade across the country once federal prohibition is lifted.<\/p>\n California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed a bill last month that will allow for such commerce<\/a> after the federal government enacts a policy change or when guidance is issued to protect the commerce activity.<\/p>\n New Jersey Senate President Nicholas Scutari (D) filed a bill in August that would authorize the governor to enter into enter into agreements with other legal states<\/a>\u00a0to import and export cannabis.<\/p>\n \u2014 The bill is similar to interstate cannabis commerce legislation that was\u00a0filed and signed into law by Oregon Gov. Kate Brown (D)<\/a>\u00a0in 2019.<\/p>\n Two members of that state\u2019s congressional delegation followed up on that action by\u00a0filing a measure that would similarly allow for such activity<\/a>, preventing the Justice Department from interfering in states that have affirmative agreements to sell marijuana across state lines. The legislation did not advance, however.<\/p>\n In August, a federal appellate court ruled that Maine\u2019s law<\/a> prohibiting non-residents from owning medical marijuana businesses in the state violates the U.S. Constitution. And legal experts say that the decision could have more far-reaching implications for interstate cannabis commerce\u2014and could create possible complications for social equity programs.<\/p>\n White House Touts New Polling That Shows Strong Support For Biden\u2019s Marijuana Pardons<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Chris Wallis \/\/ Side Pocket Images.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Federal Court Rules That State-Level Marijuana Legalization Creates Exemption To Ban On Paraphernalia Imports<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
A federal court has issued a significant ruling that could set a precedent allowing marijuana paraphernalia to be legally imported from other countries into states that have enacted legalization. While the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA) prohibits the import or export of drug paraphernalia, the U.S. Court of International TradeContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":57451,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1335,18],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57450"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57450"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57450\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57452,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57450\/revisions\/57452"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
\nMarijuana Moment is tracking more than 1,500 cannabis, psychedelics and drug policy bills<\/a> in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters<\/a> pledging at least $25\/month get access to our interactive maps, charts and hearing calendar so they don\u2019t miss any developments.<\/strong>
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/MM_Bill_Tracker_V5_blank-17.jpg\"){kind=tracking}
<\/a>
\nLearn more about our marijuana bill tracker<\/a> and become a supporter on Patreon<\/a> to get access.
\n\u2014<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n
\n
\nRead More: Federal Court Rules That State-Level Marijuana Legalization Creates Exemption To Ban On Paraphernalia Imports<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"