cannabisnews.com: Hopped Up Over Hemp 





Hopped Up Over Hemp 
Posted by FoM on July 06, 2001 at 10:35:38 PT
By Steven Oberbeck, Salt Lake Tribune
Source: Salt Lake Tribune
Selena Kontuly swears she has never gotten high using lip balm, shampooing her hair or rubbing herself down with scented body butter. The Drug Enforcement Administration, though, takes a different view of the products Kontuly pushes as manager of The Body Shop skin and hair care store at Crossroads Plaza in downtown Salt Lake City.   The reason? Some of the personal care items The Body Shop carries are made with hemp seed oil that contains trace amounts of THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. 
 And while The Body Shop's products are legal, the DEA in May indicated it is considering new regulations that will interpret existing drug laws to prohibit any product that allows THC to enter the body, no matter how small the amount, said Chad Little, spokesman for The Body Shop USA.   Hemp has a bad reputation because it is related to marijuana, but marijuana and hemp are two different varieties of the cannabis plant, Kontuly said.   "You'd have to smoke a joint the size of a telephone pole to get high on hemp."   On Thursday, The Body Shop USA launched a nationwide "Save Hemp" campaign at its 285 stores in the United States. The company's Utah stores at Crossroads Plaza and Fashion Place Mall in Murray are participating in the campaign.   Hemp-oil products account for $5 million in sales at The Body Shop USA and about 5 percent of the nearly $1 billion in annual sales generated by its parent company based in Britain. The company does not want to lose that revenue.   Nor does it want customers to lose access to what The Body Shop says are good products.   Hemp oil is a moisturizer that contains the same fatty acid found in skin and hair, Kontuly said. "It is easily absorbed and while you cannot get high, it does make your skin and hair happy."   Hemp has a history as an agricultural product in the United States, according to Richard Adams, author of The U.S. Hemp Market: An Economic Examination of the Hemp Industry.   George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and John Quincy Adams cultivated the versatile plants that today can be used in products that include fabrics and food, packaging and pasta.   "Indeed, so common was the use of hemp during the era that the first two drafts of the Declaration of Independence and the final version of the Constitution of the United States of America were, in fact, printed on paper made from hemp," Richard Adams wrote.   Hemp production was banned under the Marijuana Tax Act of 1938 because it is essentially the same plant as marijuana. With only a few exceptions, all industrial production of hemp in the United States is illegal.   However, hemp can be imported into the United States as a raw material or as an ingredient in finished products.   The hemp oil The Body Shop uses in its products is made in Canada.   The DEA's position is that all cannabis plants -- including those grown for industrial use -- contain THC, which is a hallucinogenic substance outlawed under the federal Controlled Substances Act.   "The drafted regulations focus on whether the particular cannabis-derived 'hemp' product causes THC to enter the body," according to a DEA fact sheet released by the agency's Salt Lake City office. "If so, the product will remain a Schedule 1 controlled substance."   If, however, use of the product (such as in paper or clothing) does not cause THC to enter the human body, the product will be exempt from control and not subject to any of the regulations that apply to controlled substances, it said.  Newshawk: MorinSource: Salt Lake Tribune (UT)Author: Steven OberbeckPublished: July 6, 2001Copyright: 2001 The Salt Lake TribuneContact: letters sltrib.comWebsite: http://www.sltrib.com/  The Body Shophttp://www.bodyshop.com/FTE's Hemp Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/hls.htmThe Body Shop Interactivists - Issuehttp://www.bodyshop.com/usa/hemp-action/CannabisNews Hemp Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/hemp.shtml
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Comment #11 posted by meagain on July 09, 2001 at 05:48:58 PT
LOSERS
I agree it is time to abolish/ban the DEA we don't need them they are the cause of all of this. It is THEIR fault.The losers they are.
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Comment #10 posted by Pontifex on July 06, 2001 at 19:10:00 PT:
The limitless potential of "zero tolerance"
the DEA in May indicated it is considering new regulations that will interpret existing drug laws to prohibit any product that allows THC to enter the body, no matter how small the amount, said Chad LittleHmm. So a legal product cannot contain even a trace amount of a Schedule I substance.Fortunately for the DEA, there's another product in widespread use that's contaminated with an equally evil drug -- cocaine -- and is much more profitable to seize besides: paper currency.According to the study below from the Journal of Analytical Toxicology, a detectable amount of cocaine is present in four out of five bills in your wallet.How long before the DEA closes the loop and actually begins seizing money out of innocent people's wallets?
Cocaine Contamination of United States Paper Currency
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Comment #9 posted by ekim on July 06, 2001 at 18:27:34 PT:
County Officials joke about sprayed dich weed
US IN: State Cops, County Officials Fight Ditch WeedURL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1206/a01.htmlNewshawk: Sledhead - http://www.drugsense.org/dpfil/Pubdate: Fri, 06 Jul 2001Source: Munster Times (IN)Copyright: 2001 The Munster TimesContact: Letters howpubs.comWebsite: http://www.thetimesonline.com/Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/832Author: Carmen MccollumBookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)STATE COPS, COUNTY OFFICIALS FIGHT DITCH WEED Wild--Growing Marijuana Targeted With Herbicides WHEATFIELD -- It's marijuana season again, and that means law enforcement officials have begun searching trenches, roadways and farm fields in Northwest Indiana for the ditch weed. Marijuana was a government-subsidized crop during World Wars I and II when authorities used the hemp to make rope. Eventually the government didn't need it for rope, but marijuana became the most widely used and readily available drug in the United States. As a result, the Drug Enforcement Administration initiated a program to aggressively halt the spread of ditch weed and cultivated marijuana through an eradication program where it targets the weed and cultivated marijuana grown indoors and outdoors in the middle of farm fields from May to November. Last year, the DEA spent $13 million to support 96 state and local agencies actively trying to get rid of the drug. Locally, state police get $330,000 each year to fight the drug. Indiana State Police Trooper Don Hartman and Tom Korniak, a Barkley Township farmer who works with the Jasper County Weed Board Eradication program, began spraying the weed in Jasper County last month. "This is a very hardy plant," Hartman said, adding the seed can lay dormant 7 to 10 years then sprout. "It's very difficult to kill," he said. "Once it goes to seed, it's spread by animals, birds or the wind. You have to actually destroy the seed and sterilize it, but it's not possible. We spray the plant but we have to keep checking the same area to see if it's really gone." Police said people used to come from across the country, armed with a handwritten map, to pick the weed in Newton and Jasper counties. Police also said it used to be possible to drive along a country road and reach out and grab an armload of the weed. Now finding the plants involves detective work. Wild marijuana looks much like any other weed -- it's emerald green in color with small, jagged-teeth leaves. Although state police said there is not much ditch weed in Lake, Porter and LaPorte counties, they'll search for cultivated plants later in the summer. Authorities are even more concerned about cultivated plants, those grown indoors and transplanted to farm fields hidden among corn and soybeans, growing 15 to 18 feet tall and only visible by helicopter. Police said about a pound of cultivated marijuana is worth about $1,500 on the street. "A few years ago, the jails were packed with people who came to pick ditch weed," Hartman said. "We'd get phone calls about strange cars in the area or a hotel manager would call and say that someone from a different state was there, and we'd do a surveillance the next day. That's not true anymore. You don't see people coming from all over the country. We believe we've had some success." Almost 10 years ago, police destroyed about 23 million hemp plants in the state with a street value of $10 billion. At least one Wheatfield farm family was surprised to see the ditch weed growing along the fence next to their corn crop. They said they had heard from police that people were coming to their farm searching for the ditch weed. "We can't see them from the house," said the wife, who wished to remain anonymous. "They go between the bins and if it's dark outside, we never know they've been here. We don't go looking for it ourselves." Dawn Patrick, 20, of Wheatfield, a junior at Southern Indiana University, was helping police spray for the second consecutive year. "I don't know anyone who has come to pick it, but we had heard that people would come look for it," she said. Patrick is part of a crew of college students working each summer to spray the plants. The students work in pairs with one driving and the other hosing the plants down with the herbicide. It takes about four to five hours for the plants to shrivel and die once they're sprayed. Hartman said if someone picked the ditch weed after it's sprayed they won't die -- but they'll definitely be pretty sick. "They won't get the same high," Hartman said, with a chuckle.  
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Comment #8 posted by SMASH on July 06, 2001 at 17:02:24 PT
DEA
Has anyone ever given thought that maybe just maybe the DEA is dead set against legalization because it would take away their job security.Just where do you think they get their operating funds? They get em' from these forfiture laws. They bust some guy for a little weed, them next thing you kow this guy has lost every worldly posession & they claim he's been dealing even if he can prove without a doubt he is not.People say we're being paronid, but mind you big brother IS watching. 
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Comment #7 posted by ras james rsifwh on July 06, 2001 at 16:27:26 PT
Salena Kontuly...True Soul
Salena Kontuly has been generous trying to help the Lakota People on the Pine Ridge Reservation...Now is the Age of the White Buffalo Cafe Woman...It was foretold by the Ancestors that now would be the time when Women like Salena will rise and lead.The War against Cannabis Sativa is an Ancient War against God the Mother...Ashera. Now that the White Buffalo Cafe Woman has returned the Mother's Power is openly manifesting. Cannabis Sativa...the Father's Gift to mankind...has been returned now as God's Most Sacred Sacrement...Rev 22:1&2. And the made-up Judea-Muslem-Christian traditions that hold females are some how inferor to males...these incorrect traditions must be finally and permantly discredited and abandoned in I and I's Mind.The Oldest Christian Country is Ethiopia. The Ethiopians have the only complete version of the Bible which is written in Geez. Chapter 66 (in the real Kebra Nagast) states Solomon was the first coming of Christ. So Christ burned Cannabis Sativa to honor His Mother on the hill tops.In our "King of Kings", it states God punished Solomon for this act by giving Solomon's Son a smaller Kingdom...Yea Right! God's Punishment does not work that way. No Christian leaders preaches God will punish us for what our Fathers and Mothers have done...God loves and forgives All of Us! Besides Smaller is Better! Only a Fool would want to try and govern a large Kingdom! God Blessed Solomon by giving His Son and easier life. Yes! Man! Seen? Seen!Rasta stand on the last line of the Bible..."The Grace of the Lord Jesus be with The All." Give all praise and thanks to the Father, Jah Rastafar-I who liveth and reignith in I and I! Yes! Male and Female! King Alpha and Queen Omega!We are the Generation that broke Tribulations.The Father is stating in the last line of the Bible that Jesus's Death on the Cross was good enough to save us All. Now that is Amazing Grace. Yes! Burn the Holy Herb on that thought Rastamen and Rastawomen! Total Equality and I-ternal Redemption for All! The Rasta is True Christian! You can Smoke the Herb on It!
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Comment #6 posted by mayan on July 06, 2001 at 16:01:02 PT
War on Hemp
 The war on marijuana(recreational & medicinal) is ultimately just a war on industrial hemp. You name it & we can make it - OUT OF HEMP!!! The most powerful lobbies in Amerika are fighting against hemp to preserve their profits & power. Very soon we will have no choice but to fully utilize the most versatile plant on this planet. Hemp will heal the earth or the earth will simply brush us off. http://www.votehemp.com
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Comment #5 posted by Dan B on July 06, 2001 at 14:26:36 PT:
Saving their A$$e$
Dude, I understand why you would be upset at these servicemen who said that they were using hemp products, not smoking the herb. But think of it this way: if you knew that being fired from your job would mark you for life as a social outcast, unfit for employment in any job sector, and you were caught with a positive drug test that could cost you your job, and you knew of a virtually foolproof defense, and up until then there had been no negative repurcussions from using that defense, wouldn't you use that defense if it meant that you could keep your job?Most of the military folks I encountered when I was in the Army (1986 to 1990) were far from card-carrying prohibitionists. To the contrary, most didn't want anything to do with the war on some drugs, many smoked the herb, a few were caught, and none of the ones I knew used the herbal supplement defense. Our ire should not be directed toward the guys who got caught and used a foolish defense to get out of trouble. Instead, our ire should be directed toward the fools and incompetents who made random drug testing for all military personnel. Even worse are those who used the crooked logic that what is good for the military is good for the private sector (there used to be a differentiation; the military comes under a separate criminal and civil code, UCMJ, so soldiers by definition do not have the same rights as typical citizens, even though it is they who are fighting for our rights--crazy, isn't it?). Anyway, I hope this explains things from my perspective. These issues usually have several shades of gray. Take care.Dan B
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Comment #4 posted by kaptinemo on July 06, 2001 at 13:58:49 PT:
Faux-concern for our welfare
""The drafted regulations focus on whether the particular cannabis-derived 'hemp' product causes THC to enter the body," according to a DEA fact sheet released by the agency's Salt Lake City office. "If so, the product will remain a Schedule 1 controlled substance."If the DEA is so concerned about 'delivery systems', then why aren't cigarettes banned? Or chewing tobacco?That's all they are: delivery systems for nicotine. Which in sufficient concentration, is deadly. The fatal dose of pure nicotine is approximately 40-60 mg (0.6-1.0 mg/kg, 1-2 drops) i.e. the quantity contained in 2 g of tobacco (equivalent to 2 common blend cigarettes; 15-25 mg of nicotine per cigarette). Nicotine sulphate used to be - and in some parts of the world, still is - used as a very potent insecticide. As well as a very rapid-acting poison in assasinations.Yet the DEA is soooo concerned that the tiniest, inconsequential trace of THC might find it's way to your brain through your skin. Your hair. Your lips.I, like most who post here, are long past the time when we needed paternalistic hand-holding of any sort. Especially that of the DEA's. Get a life guys...and leave ours alone.
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Comment #3 posted by dude on July 06, 2001 at 12:13:10 PT
US army to thank
The reason I heard that was behind the DEA's charge to make hemp products illegal is because soo many of our armed service men that got caught smoking(via drug test) claimed that they didn't smoke, but used hemp products. I find it annoying that some people will do anything to save their own A&%!!
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on July 06, 2001 at 11:38:50 PT
My 2 cents
I think they want to ban Hemp because it could throw a drug test. Maybe I'm wrong but what else could it be? Do they really feel someone will try to smoke their lip balm? Yuk!
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Comment #1 posted by Kevin Hebert on July 06, 2001 at 11:14:03 PT:
My Response to the Salt Lake Tribune
Dear Editor:In "Hopped Up Over Hemp", Steven Oberbeck describes how the DEA is drafting regulations to prevent the use of certain hemp products, at The Body Shop and elsewhere.Industrial hemp cannot make anyone high. Yet the DEA, in its seemingly never-ending quest to regulate our bodies and what we do with them, wants to ban products made from it.I think it's high time for the American people to write ourrepresentatives and tell them to do away with the DEA entirely. This country was not founded so that unelected government employees could tell people what type of lip balm to use.  
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