SPOKANE — Multiple marijuana businesses licensed by the state of Washington are reporting their shipments of glass jars and other packaging is being seized as drug paraphernalia by federal agents at the port of entry in Tacoma.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection, in response to the claims, is denying any new action to stop shipments bound for companies operating within Washington’s recreational or medicinal markets. The federal agency, responsible for enforcing federal trade laws at points of entry in the United States, reiterated that marijuana remains illegal per the U.S. code.
“CBP is not putting a new emphasis on identifying overseas shipments to licensed marijuana businesses in Washington state,” said Jason Givens, a spokesman for the agency based in Seattle, in an emailed response last week to questions about seizures.
A spokeswoman for the Port of Tacoma said via email Tuesday they weren’t “aware of any seizures for this commodity through our gateway.”
But Washington attorneys and the firms they represent provided documentation to The Spokesman-Review showing seizures of glassware valued in the hundreds of thousands of dollars in September. The companies provided the information on condition of anonymity, concerned about future actions by federal agents that would interrupt their supply of packaging materials for the drug.
Seized materials included spice jars and glass vials that bore no markings indicating they were bound for a marijuana producer and processor, representatives of the companies said.
Those types of materials are not explicitly listed among the items prohibited from import by federal law, which is instead focused on methods of delivery including pipes and bongs, said Aaron Pelley, an attorney for the firm Cultiva Law based in Seattle who said he’s heard from several affected businesses.
“If you read the case law, and what federal drug paraphernalia is defined as, glass jars are not contemplated,” Pelley said.
Pelley disputed Customs’ claims that policies hadn’t changed, noting he’d never received phone calls from businesses with issues about glass shipments until recently.
