Pubdate: Sat, 07 Feb 2004
Source: Daily Camera (CO)
Copyright: 2004 The Daily Camera.
Contact:  http://www.thedailycamera.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/103
Author: Adam Scott

JUDGES RULE HEMP FOODS ARE NOT SUBJECT TO DEA BAN

A federal appeals court in San Francisco ruled Friday that producers and 
vendors of hemp foods do not violate marijuana laws.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling overturned a Drug Enforcement 
Agency ban on foods containing even trace amounts of THC, the psychoactive 
chemical in marijuana. Both hemp and marijuana are cannabis plants, but 
hemp produces far less THC.

Boulder natural food stores stopped carrying hemp food products when the 
DEA imposed the ban in October 2001.

"Some people were just devastated," said Paul Cervantes, a grocer at Whole 
Foods. He said cheese, bread, and ice cream made with hemp seeds are more 
healthful than soy products.

The federal court suspended the ban in March 2002 while judges considered a 
challenge from the hemp industry. Friday's ruling said the DEA overstepped 
its authority.

Kathleen Chippi closed her business, the Boulder Hemp Company, after being 
targeted by the DEA.

"When the DEA is telling potential investors it's illegal, they freaked out 
and ran away," Chippi said. The DEA began threatening Chippi and her 
investors with prison sentences in 1999, two years before hemp foods were 
banned, she said.

She said the ruling Friday doesn't encourage her to go back into business 
selling Heavenly Hemp tortilla chips, which were once sold nationwide by 
King Soopers.

"Until the entire war on the entire plant is over, it's almost pointless," 
Chippi said.

U.S. marijuana laws prohibit cannabis cultivation, so hemp seeds and fiber 
are imported. In October 1999, the DEA seized 39,000 pounds of seeds being 
shipped from Canada because they contained trace amounts of THC. The DEA 
eventually released the shipment under pressure from the U.S. Department of 
Justice.

The Friday ruling noted hemp industry claims that it is impossible to get 
high from the amount of THC in hemp foods.

DEA spokesman Richard Meyer questioned the ruling. "If the product contains 
THC, and is to be consumed by humans, Congress has made it illegal," he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman