Buying bongs and other smoking accessories in the US can be a bit confusing. With a lot of talk about drug paraphernalia and the fear of getting in trouble by authorities, many smokers are reasonably a bit hesitant to buy bongs or other things that may be considered "drug paraphernalia" online. The law regarding drug paraphernalia is very ambiguous so we will lay out all the facts and the experiences we've learned from throughout the years of selling bongs and pipes online, so that you can make an informed decision.
What the law says and how that affects you
According to the official us government website, drug paraphernalia "refers to any equipment that is used to produce, conceal, and consume illicit drugs ; Gov document .It includes but is not limited to items such as bongs, roach clips, miniature spoons, and various types of pipes. Under federal law the term drug paraphernalia means “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.”
Simply put, any object can be regarded as drug paraphernalia as long as its used to consume illicit drugs. But in practice, unless the bong or other smoking accessory does not contain remnants of any illegal substances, they are not likely to be regarded as drug paraphernalia as they can also be regarded as water pipes which are exclusively used for legal purposes. Charges like drug paraphernalia are commonly used to further indict other more serious charges like drug trafficking to help accumulate evidence or when drug paraphernalia is found while a user is operating a vehicle.
Imports from overseas
This ambiguity allows the government and officials such as custom agents to promptly seize any object that could be classified as drug paraphernalia. However, this is almost always done exclusively for imports where further inspection is most likely to occur if suspicion is raised. For people importing bongs from overseas, the likelihood of your bong being seized is dependent on whether or not they decide to open up and inspect the package. If they do happen to, then almost certainly U.S custom agents will seize the bongs. Granted, its unlikely that they will inspect that package at all, since only about 5% of all imports are subject to inspection. So overseas imports come down to luck in regards to this.
Potential penalties and other ramifications
Now lets talk about the possible charges and fines one might get if they are charged with possession of drug paraphernalia. Charges related to the possession of drug paraphernalia vary by state, with states that have legalized marijuana being excluded entirely when it comes to weed paraphernalia.
Punishments for drug paraphernalia are generally less severe than for offenses involving illicit drugs themselves. Under the federal statute, the maximum sentence for selling paraphernalia is three years, plus a fine. As noted above, federal law does not outlaw possession per se
Under state law, penalties vary. For example, in Ohio drug paraphernalia possession is a fourth-degree misdemeanor (punishable by up to 30 days of jail time plus a fine), but dealing in paraphernalia is a misdemeanor of the second degree.
Again, these are the laws written under official federal and state statutes, most of which were written during the 1990s and have not been revised since.
Laws regarding online orders plus final verdict
There are no laws preventing anyone in the U.S from ordering bongs online, as again they are also regarded as water pipes which can be used to consume a number of legal herbs and tobacco. The As long as the costumer is over the age of 21, there should be no problems regarding this.
If you are hesitant about buying bongs from here or any other online headshop we understand. However, take into consideration that we have made thousands of sales across multiple platforms online and across the world and we are yet to recieve any notice of anyone having problems with the law and we can confirm that we have not had any problems regarding the sale of bongs online.