According to the U.S. Customs and Borders control, smell-proof containers for your stash are considered “drug paraphernalia.”
Products made by the Colorado-based company Stashlogix have hence been seized by authorities. “I thought of all things that do get through — vaporizers, bongs — we’d be one of the last to get flagged,” said Skip Stone, founder of Stashlogix. “We’re not sure if it’s just bad luck or a sign of things to come.”
Customs informed Stone that his company’s products would no longer be allowed back into the United States after 1,000 odor-proof stash containers were confiscated at the airport. Because the Stashlogix products are meant to conceal weed, they’re considered paraphernalia — defined as anything “designed for use in manufacturing, compounding, converting, concealing, producing, processing, preparing, injecting, ingesting, inhaling, or otherwise introducing into the human body a controlled substance.”
This crackdown on Stashlogix is nonetheless ironic, given that the company has nothing to do with actually handling cannabis, a Schedule I federally illegal substance. Auxiliary companies that don’t “touch the plant” are often thought to be more immune from federal sanction than their more risky counterparts.
Still, Stashlogix isn’t explicit about the products’ utility for cannabis. Without any weed leaf branding, the company is subtle — though it’s customer reviews aren’t. That’s in part what Customs used to justify confiscated the company’s products at border control.
“There is no evidence in the form of marketing or community usage that would dispel the finding that Stashlogix cases have a legitimate use other than to store, carry, or conceal marijuana,” Customs officials wrote in a letter, though they acknowledged that the product, on its own, could be “viewed as a multi-purpose storage case with no association with or to controlled substances.”
Since this debacle at border control, Stashlogix has had to lay off the majority of their employees. Stone has $18,000 worth of raw materials for his products stuck overseas and is now looking for an American manufacturer. He says the situation is “absurd,” especially given that his products are meant to safely store a state-legal substance and keep it out of the hands of children.
What’s happened with Stashlogix might also be cause for concern for other companies that make odor-proof stash containers. Some, such as Annabis, however, which makes odor-proof purses, might have a bit more protection since the primary purpose of the products is to serve as a fashion handbag, rather than merely a receptacle for weed.
