Need help with something please..

[Foshizzle45]

OK I am seeing that people on the forum who live in the U.S are buying lasers online at o-like and are getting them without any problem. I was told that custom's will take anything that is over 5mw. Does o-like. com not go through custom's or something?........... Also I was looking at some lasers at dealextreme . com because there lasers are really cheap. Is it worth buying a laser that is cheap? Is the quality bad or will it die faster? Im a noobie with laser's and I appreciate any help i can get. Thanks!:thinking:

 

[qumefox]

Everything goes through customs. However they don't have the manpower to physically check every package. Plus I imagine that drugs, explosives etc have a higher priority in searches, but lasers DO get confiscated occasionally.

As far as cost.. Remember, at least on the low end of the scale.. You get what you pay for. a $5 laser is going to be just that.

 

[JBTexas]

I started ordering nitroglycerin tablets from a company in Canada a little while back. Technically illegal, because Pfizer/Nitrostat is PRESCRIPTION ONLY here in the USA, but "OTC" (over the counter) in Canada. So far I have done it once, successfully. I got a bottle of 100 tablets, and will have to replace it in ~ January 2012 (once opened, a bottle of nitroglycerin tablets goes bad in about ~ 6 months... loses its potency). (On the average, I end up having to take nitroglycerin about once every 2-3 days. On a "bad day", I might end up taking nitroglycerin twice or maybe 3x within a 24hour period).

BEFORE I did this, I checked on a few things. INCLUDING calling a couple of government agency offices (USA customs). The customs agent I talked to was "snippy"; said that "if I was caught", I would get a nasty letter declaring the confiscation, plus I might get fined.

As it turns out (after checking some more), their policy DOES dictate that if they confiscate, legally they MUST send you a letter. Whether it is a "nasty letter" is up to them. But they CANNOT levy a fine (for a MEDICINAL drug like nitroglycerin). Apparantly that was a scare tactic from an over-zealous receptionist. I would imagine it would be even LESS so with lasers - unless the FDA managed to push through special legislation sometime.

The info I got suggests that customs is SEVERELY undermanned. Intercepting drugs from Canada (and lasers) DOES happen, but only VERY rarely.