21 U.S.C. § 955
Section 955 · Possession on board vessels, etc., arriving in or departing from United States
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 116 court decisions — leading case United States v. Wright (1989)
Most recently applied in United States v. Oral Thompson (April 2019)
Applied most in the First Circuit Circuit (46 decisions)
Cases citing this section usually also cite 21 U.S.C. § 841 · 21 U.S.C. § 952 · 18 U.S.C. § 2
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
It shall be unlawful for any person 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, a controlled substance in schedule I or II or a narcotic drug in schedule III or IV, unless such substance or drug is a part of the cargo entered in the manifest or part of the official supplies of the vessel, aircraft, or vehicle.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
References in Text
Schedules I, II, III, and IV, referred to in text, are set out in section 812(c) of this title.