---
kind: "section"
citation: "21 U.S.C. § 955"
title: "21"
title_heading: "Food and Drugs"
number: "955"
heading: "Possession on board vessels, etc., arriving in or departing from United States"
release: "119-102"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/21/955"
units:
  - "Chapter 13 — Drug Abuse Prevention and Control"
  - "Subchapter II — Import and Export"
---

# §955. Possession on board vessels, etc., arriving in or departing from United States


It shall be unlawful for any [person](/usc/21/379j–21.md?p=k-10) to bring or possess on board any vessel or aircraft, or on board any vehicle of a carrier, arriving in or departing from the United States or the [customs territory of the United States](/usc/21/951.md?p=a-2), a [controlled substance](/usc/21/889.md?p=a-1) in schedule I or II or a [narcotic drug](/usc/21/1907.md?p=4) in schedule III or IV, unless such substance or [drug](/usc/21/321.md?p=g-1) is a part of the cargo entered in the manifest or part of the official supplies of the vessel, aircraft, or vehicle.


## Source credit

(Pub. L. 91–513, title III, § 1005, Oct. 27, 1970, 84 Stat. 1287.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### References in Text

Schedules I, II, III, and IV, referred to in text, are set out in section 812(c) of this title.

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Effective Date

Section effective on first day of seventh calendar month that begins after Oct. 26, 1970, see 1105(a) of Pub. L. 91–513, set out as a under section 951 of this title.