Posters 'N' Things, Ltd. v. United States

Background

A store owner and her company ran a retail business that included a head shop selling pipes, bongs, scales, roach clips, and chemicals called diluents. Police searched the store and the owner’s home and seized catalogs advertising “Coke Kits” and “Free Base Kits.” The owner and the store were tried and convicted under a federal law banning the sale and interstate transport of drug paraphernalia and were fined and sentenced.

Reasoning

The main question was what mental state the law requires. The Court read the statute’s phrase “primarily intended or designed for use” mostly as an objective test about how items are likely used, not as proof that a seller wanted them used with drugs. Still, the Court held that the government must prove the seller acted knowingly — aware that customers generally were likely to use the merchandise with illegal drugs — which is enough to support conviction.

Real world impact

The decision affects retail sellers, particularly head shops and other stores that market drug-related items. Prosecutors may convict sellers when evidence shows they knew items were likely to be used with drugs. The statute includes a list of per se items and objective factors, and it exempts items traditionally intended for tobacco, which narrows enforcement. The Court said questions about ordinary multiple-use items, like scales or mirrors sold for lawful purposes, may raise harder legal issues in other cases.

Dissents or concurrances

Justice Scalia agreed the convictions should stand but wrote separately. He argued seller subjective intent should be sufficient to convict and emphasized that display, instructions, and other seller conduct can show that intent. He disagreed with the Court’s narrower reading.