(I hope I'm not sticking my neck out here... maybe it will re-assure the OP or give him an idea what to expect)
I'm getting the impression that US Customs is severely undermanned and underfunded. The chances of getting ANYTHING through is actually pretty high/quite good.
As a cardiac patient, I need to occasionally take NitroStat; sublingual nitroglycerin tablets. Now, in the U.S., this drug is PRESCRIPTION ONLY. In Canada, it is OTC (over-the-counter), not needing a prescription.
Two reasons why I considered a Canadian pharmacy recently:
(1) CHEAP! Let me re-phrase that - In Canada, nitro tablets are EXTREMELY cheap compared to the U.S.
(2) My damm uptight cardiologist insists on me making an appointment with her every 6 months, if I want to renew my prescription. In some cases, I think that the U.S. healthcare system -> pharm industry is a racket. One hand feeds the other. I SHOULDN'T have to see my cardiologist EVERY 6 MONTHS to refill my prescription! Its an unnecessary bother.
So... I started checking & researching this issue. I even made phonecalls, even talking to the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) once.
The FDA agent/receptionist said " ... if you do that, since it is a PRESCRIPTION drug here in the US, they will confiscate the medication, send you a letter and impose a fine!". As it turns out, that was a scare tactic.
I *RESEARCHED* and found a VERY reliable and trustworthy Canadian pharmacy.
They said, first of all, that by law they COULDN'T impose a fine for that. Not in this particular case. All they can do is confiscate, and they MUST send a letter stating that it was confiscated.
Second, medications from Canada were VERY RARELY caught. SOMETIMES they are. Apparantly, it's an on-and-off thing, customs occasionally "buckles down" and does "sweeps" for a week or two a few times a year... perhaps to justify themselves and make an impression (to politicians?). For medications, it's RARELY a problem - the customs agents just don't want the headache of bothering to find out if they are "in the right" in these cases.
Third, in MY case, a customs agent would probably let it through, because as of *right now*, ordering meds from Canada IS legal. They would probably NOT make the connection that Nitrostat is PRESCRIPTION ONLY in the US, but OTC in Canada.
Fourth, if this DID happen, the pharmacy would (a) refund my money (b) send me a replacement; my choice.
I placed an order, it came, no problems. AND the sender was OBVIOUSLY a pharmacy, from the shipping label.
Now, for lasers, for a company like O-Like, when they (apparantly) place innocuous-seeming labels and declarations on the package, then the package does not scream "I have a laser inside me". Only in a "sweep" would they even open the package.
What are the chances of any particular customs agent even KNOWING that a particular laser is illegal? Unless they are specifically trained, or in case a memo happened to circulate recently AND said memo is still fresh on their minds...
ALSO note that if a hi-power laser is * FDA Compliant *, then it ISN'T a problem.
From the LaserGlow website:
This laser has a full FDA-compliant 5-point safety system which includes: key switch, safety interlock, aperture shutter, power LED, and 3-second delay.
Of course, a 20mw Laser "pointer" from China would NOT be FDA compliant.
And PARTS (just the diodes/DPSS's), drivers, etc. are NOT a problem.
