article_snippet.sent: A "common carrier" is one who offers A "common carrier" services to members of the public -- without much discretion -- and is engaged in the business of transporting persons or property for compensation.
article_snippet.sent: The public policy reasons behind "common carrier" exemptions make sense; the industry simply couldn't function if every driver, courier and handler who touches a valid shipment of OxyContin had to obtain a prescription for opiates to be legally allowed to deliver the industry to your front door.
article_snippet.sent: That's why the Controlled Substances Act and the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act allow common carriers to lawfully possess controlled substances, so long as it is in the usual course of common carriers business.
article_snippet.sent: Of course, this is not a permission slip for drug runners to avoid liability by calling themselves "common carriers.
article_snippet.sent: This would not be acting in the usual course of business of a common carrier, since this imaginary airline is not offering this imaginary airline services to the public, generally.
article_snippet.sent: On the other hand, FedEx argues that it is indeed a common carrier, performing the normal duties of a common carrier, because (a) it is engaged in the business of transportation of property and (b) it offers it services to the public generally.
article_snippet.sent: It's hard to imagine extending liability to common carriers for possession of contraband.
article_snippet.sent: The answer is the same reason that the drug dealers deal drugs, and drug smugglers smuggle them: Money.