Pubdate: Fri, 29 Mar 2002
Source: Newsday (NY)
Copyright: 2002 Newsday Inc.
Contact:  http://www.newsday.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/308
Author: John Kekis, The Associated Press
Related: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n598/a06.html
Cited: http://www.reconsider.org/ (ReconsiDer)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/hemp.htm (Hemp)

MARIJUANA CHARGES AGAINST HEMP PROTESTERS DISMISSED

SYRACUSE - Marijuana charges against three protesters were dismissed 
Thursday after lab tests on pretzels and candy bars made with hemp showed 
no traces of the psychoactive chemical THC.

City Court Judge Langston McKinney threw out the charges against Jennifer 
Copeland, Patrick Head, and Gerrit Cain. They were arrested Dec. 4 in front 
of the police station for handing out free samples of the food products.

Marijuana possession charges were lodged after a deputy took one of the 
candy bars and a drug field test turned positive for the presence of marijuana.

"We were a little bit shocked," said Head, 20, of Basking Ridge, N.J. "But 
this certainly raised our profile."

Subsequent lab tests, however, were negative, and under New York state 
standards the presence of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, must be found for a 
case to proceed.

"They realized they didn't have a case," attorney Craig Schlanger said. "It 
died an early death. The result of this is not precedent setting. Had it 
gone all the way, it would have been more interesting."

The three college students were the only people arrested during the 
protest, which was conducted in 70 cities nationwide. The action was 
against a new federal regulation over edible hemp products.

"It was a bad arrest in the first place. Only here in Syracuse," said Nick 
Eyle, executive director of ReconsiDer, part of a national coalition that 
wants drug laws reformed. "The whole thing is so silly because hemp is a 
separate plant from marijuana. You can smoke a field of this stuff and 
you're not going to get high. They were giving away legally manufactured 
products. It's crazy. It shows to some extent the hysteria surrounding 
drugs in this country."

Three weeks ago in San Francisco, a federal appeals court temporarily 
blocked a Drug Enforcement Administration rule banning the sale of food 
made with hemp.

Hemp is an industrial plant grown outside the United States that is related 
to marijuana. Fiber from the plant long has been used to make paper, 
clothing, rope and other products. Its oil is found in body-care products 
such as lotion, soap and cosmetics and in several foods, including energy 
bars, waffles, tortilla chips, milk-free cheese, veggie burgers, salad oil 
and bread.

In October, the DEA declared that food products containing even trace 
amounts of THC, which sometimes is found in hemp, were banned under the 
Controlled Substances Act.

The DEA ordered a halt in the production and distribution of all goods 
containing THC that were intended for human consumption. It ordered all 
such products to be destroyed or removed from the United States by March 18.

But the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the government could not 
enforce the new law until the court rules on challenges to it. The appeals 
court tentatively is set to hear arguments on the case April 8 in San Francisco.
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