cannabisnews.com: Foods Containing Hemp Face Impending DEA Ban 










  Foods Containing Hemp Face Impending DEA Ban 

Posted by CN Staff on March 29, 2003 at 16:56:29 PT
By Frank Green, Union-Tribune Staff Writer  
Source: SignOnSanDiego.com 

The use of hemp in corn chips, frozen waffles and other foodstuffs will be nipped in the bud next month under a new ruling by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Any cannabis products intended for human consumption will not be allowed to be manufactured or sold after April 21, the agency said yesterday. A trade group representing dozens of companies that mix hemp oils and fiber into their products – including San Diego County-based Govinda's Fitness Foods and Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap – said it plans to file a brief today in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco seeking a stay of the ban. 
Several executives at companies distributing hemp-related goods threatened acts of civil disobedience if the ruling is enforced. Hemp contains trace elements of the psychoactive substance tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, which is found in marijuana. U.S. drug laws list THC as a Schedule 1 controlled substance. "We expect most of the public to abide by the ban," DEA spokeswoman Rogene Waite said. Sales of hemp products rose to $140 million last year, although food containing hemp accounted for only $6 million of the industry. Pretzels, tortilla chips, granola and dozens of other edibles are produced under such brands as Hempola, Nativa and Nature's Path. The DEA added that the ban does not apply to hemp fiber used in industrial products such as paper, rope and clothing, and sterilized cannabis seeds and oils in animal feed and soap. But companies that use hemp said the exemption likely won't apply to imported hemp oil and fiber subsequently used in the production of goods. "They're not exempting the import of actual oil, just the manufactured product," said David Bronner, president of Dr. Bronner's and chairman of the Hemp Industry Association's food and oils committee. The production of hemp is illegal in the United States, and virtually all of the material used by Dr. Bronner's and other companies is imported from Canada. Under the ban, Dr. Bronner's, which posted revenue of $8 million last year, said it would have to reformulate virtually its entire product line, a potentially disastrous turn for the company. Dr. Bronner's said it has seen its business jump by 50 percent since it began adding hemp to its health soaps in 1999. "Our product identity is wrapped up in hemp," Bronner said. Bronner said he nevertheless is optimistic that the court will issue a stay of the DEA ruling and ultimately overturn the hemp ban. The DEA originally issued an "interpretive rule" banning hemp in food in October 2001. But the circuit court subsequently issued a stay requested by the hemp industry that remains in effect. However, the DEA's new "final rules" on the issue will automatically begin enforcement of the ban next month if unsuccessfully challenged in court, the agency said. At Govinda's Fitness Foods, the ban would likely mean the end of production of its popular Ginger-Chia, Fruit Combo and Carob-Nut hemp bars, which are marketed with the motto "The Higher Taste." Govinda's owner Larry Gatpandan could not be reached for comment yesterday afternoon. But in an interview last year, he estimated that the hemp bars represent about 20 percent of Govinda's revenue. Gatpandan also was adamant about hemp's non-psychoactive properties. "You'd have to eat 500 pounds of hemp to get even a slight buzz," he said at the time. Source: SignOnSanDiego.com (CA)Author: Frank Green, Union-Tribune Staff WriterPublished: March 28, 2003Copyright: 2003 SignOnSanDiego.comContact: letters uniontrib.com Website: http://www.signonsandiego.com/Related Articles & Web Site:Cannabis News Hemp Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/hls.htmDEA Final Rule on Hemp Foods Challenged http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15809.shtmlHemp NAFTA Suit Begins Arbitration Phase http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13609.shtmlGet Your Fill of Hemp While It's Still Legalhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11547.shtml 

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Comment #13 posted by FoM on April 15, 2003 at 21:49:09 PT
Court Decision on Hemp Foods Expected This Week
Americans ‘Just Say No’ to DEA Attempts to Ban Hemp Food ProductsSAN FRANCISCO, CA – Vote Hemp expects the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to rule on a Motion to Stay the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) “Final Rule” on hemp food products by the end of this week. Hemp food products will be all-but-banned in the U.S. on April 21, 2003 without a Court Stay of new DEA hemp rules, and hemp advocates want the public and DEA agents responsible for the ban to taste what they will be missing. Citizens from around the country will be challenging the DEA’s “Final Rule” on hemp food products by visiting more than 70 DEA outposts for a picnic at noon on April 21, 2003.The new “Final Rule,” issued on March 21, 2003, is virtually identical to an “Interpretive Rule” issued on October 9, 2001 that never went into effect because of a Ninth Circuit Stay issued on March 7, 2002. On March 28, 2003 the Hemp Industries Association (HIA), several hemp food and cosmetic manufacturers and the Organic Consumers Association petitioned the Ninth Circuit to once again prevent the DEA from ending the legal sale of hemp seed and oil products in the U.S. Hemp advocates say that the public and Congress need to hear from outraged citizens.“The Court’s decision will effectively make or break the hemp foods industry,” says David Bronner, Chair of the HIA’s Food and Oil Committee.At lunchtime, hemp advocates and concerned citizens will set up tables with hemp food products and information near—not on—DEA property. “Our goal is to solicit participation from the public and DEA employees in taste tests and to provide a forum to highlight the absurdity of prohibiting hemp foods,” says Eric Steenstra, President of Vote Hemp.WHO: Citizens, Hemp Advocates, Vote Hemp
WHAT: Nationwide Day of Action Challenging the DEA on Hemp Foods
WHERE: Nationwide at DEA offices (for locations, call 202-232-8997 
WHEN: Monday, April 21, 2003 at noonThe DEA’s previous attempts to ban hemp foods prompted a major public outcry. Over 115,000 public comments were submitted to the DEA against their new rules. On December 4, 2001, Vote Hemp, working with students, nutritionists and hemp manufacturers, organized the first-ever “DEA Taste Tests” at DEA offices and natural food stores in 76 cities around the country in order to educate the public. In 2002, 25 members of Congress wrote the DEA telling the agency that their “Interpretive Rule” that attempts to ban edible hemp seed or oil products containing “any THC” is “overly restrictive.”North American hemp food companies voluntarily observe reasonable THC limits similar to those adopted by European nations as well as Canada and Australia. These limits protect consumers with a wide margin of safety from any psychoactive effects or workplace drug-testing interference (see hemp industry standards regarding trace THC at: http://www.testpledge.com The DEA has hypocritically not targeted food manufacturers for using poppy seeds (in bagels and muffins, for example) even though they contain far higher levels of trace opiates. The recently-revived global hemp market, with retail sales of over $250 million worldwide, is a thriving commercial success. Unfortunately, because the DEA’s Drug War paranoia has confused non-psychoactive industrial hemp varieties of cannabis with psychoactive “marihuana” varieties, the U.S. is the only major industrialized nation to prohibit the growing of industrial hemp.Visit: http://www.VoteHemp.com to read court documents and numerous scientific studies re: hemp foods. For more information or to arrange interviews with representatives of the hemp industry, please call Adam Eidinger at 202-986-6186.
Vote Hemp Press Release
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Comment #12 posted by Virgil on March 30, 2003 at 08:52:15 PT

You are my sunshine
I hate to say it, but I have already verified the words to the song so here goes. I just cannot believe this hempffod ban in spite of all the insanity we have heard in the War against people that use cannabis.You are my sunshine, my only sunshine,Yon make me happy when skies are gray,You'll never know dear how much I love you.Please don't take my sunshine away.Cultural Baggage has its link up for the show representing the 4th Friday in the month. The guest was Mike Gray, the author of a book titled, "Drug Crazy- How we got into this mess and how we can get out"- http://www.cultural-baggage.com/kpft.htmThere is an article up by timesonline- http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,482-626898,00.html - that explores what may be the madness of Tony Blair. I think it is almost poetic writing worth reading even if the subject is of no interest. I wanted to copy one paragraph so people could read into it, what we all see as madness on reefer. Genius and madness are often allied, and nowhere is this truer than in political leadership. Great leaders need self-belief in unnatural measure. Simple fraudsters are rumbled early, but great leaders share with great confidence tricksters a capacity to be more than persuaded, but inhabited, by their cause. Almost inevitably, an inspirational leader spends important parts of his life certain of the uncertain, convinced of the undemonstrable. 
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Comment #11 posted by The GCW on March 30, 2003 at 07:57:23 PT

Jamaica
Jamaica: Bill To Legalise Ganja For Private Use Soon, Says Nicholsonhttp://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n466/a01.html?397
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Comment #10 posted by The GCW on March 30, 2003 at 05:48:55 PT

Virgil
 Hemp & hemp seed oil / diet is God awesome.Hemp oil contains gamma linolenic acid (GLA) and is only available in about 5 places. That includes black currant seed oil, primrose oil, borage, HEMP SEED OIL & MOTHERS MILK. If You have not been consuming hemp seed oil and You have not nursed as a baby, then it is likely You have never introduced GLA into Your body. & the bottle of Hempola hemp seed oil I have indicates in only supplies 4% of the daily requirement. GLA is known for contributing to a strong immune system. The body makes GLA but does it produce enough to sustain the amount of stress the body experiences living in 2003?So years ago when hemp grew wild FREELY, the birds ate the hemp and We ate the birds.Now the birds eat less.Doesn’t America have the highest cancer rates on earth while it leads the effort to exterminate hemp?Could We benefit from allowing hemp to simply live freely?What has replaced hemp seeds for the birds is similar to
what replaces natural hemp vapors in the air, for all living creatures.If You compare the oxygen We breathe before hemp extermination and after (if the evil succeed), would the oxygen content be different? Does hemp emit vapors in the air that other plants do not or do it in different proportions, in a manner to benefit humans more than other plants?Should people that harm the oxygen We breathe by attempting to exterminate hemp be stopped?The hemp seed has saved countries from starvation. The U.S. Fed. Gov. does not care about poor counties that rely on hemp for basic survival.The owners of the large corporation have in many instances accumulated many lifetimes of recources for His family and now is working on separating the poor from having even enough accumulation for even one lifetime.If the rich man has enough for His family to live 10 times, does that make it difficult for another man to have enough for their family to survive?Man views and comprehends personality, looking from the finite to the infinite; God looks from the infinite to the finite. Urantia 

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Comment #9 posted by Dark Star on March 30, 2003 at 04:24:21 PT

Hemp Soap
Hemp soap is usually scented with something else, so it smells like that. Hemp oil smells green and nice if its really fresh. It does not smell like cannabis, 'cause that scent comes from the glands and essential oils. The hemp oil comes only from inside the seeds.
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Comment #8 posted by FoM on March 29, 2003 at 22:31:59 PT

Mark Fiore Animation - Liberation
This one's about the war.http://www.markfiore.com/animation/liberation.html
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Comment #7 posted by FoM on March 29, 2003 at 20:54:43 PT

Virgil
I don't know the answer to your questions but they are good ones. I agree with you that the Cannabis community should be able to handle all the war news better then some folks. I guess there are a few reasons but one is we are aware of why we are at war and we don't expect much from politicans or at least I don't. They double talk more then any group I know. They make sure they have a way out from what they say. They are great escape artists. We as a group understand oppression. Not like war or anything like that but oppression none the same.Enjoy SNL. We saw it so I'll do some more reading and thanks for the link to the article.
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Comment #6 posted by Virgil on March 29, 2003 at 20:39:22 PT

Maybe it is just me
FoM, there is an interesting article up at marijuana.com you may want to read. It does not have a source, but it is definitely different- http://www.marijuana.com/article.php?sid=6081&mode=&order=0It is good to see the cumulative knowledge grow at cannabisnews and people willing to contribute sources and perspective. The thing that really gets me is what a hemp diet could do for people especially with heart disease and cholesterol being a big deal that hempfoods or just the good old recreational cannabis.Maybe it is just me, but there is still an intellectual curiosity that wants answers to the question of cannabis nutrition. Now take Morocco where 30% of the people use cannabis and they export hash to Europe. Don't they have a lot of seeds and don't they have a problem with hunger. I just wonder the relationship between the two and the impact in diet and health.Just recently I read about the hemp plants requiring seeding a few inches apart that grow tall and have leaves on the top while the cannabis that we desire for recreational use is bushy and more shrubby. But, the question I would like answered outside of what they say about seeds, is what the buds would do for your health, say if they were consumed in tea or soup.I also wonder about the mental health of the country with the repetition of war and terrorism and war against terrorism machine gunning everyones brain. Somehow I think the cannabis community will fair better than those that go without. I know I would feel better. It makes me think our mental health is an advantage in taking it to the prohibitionists. I also think most people cannot deal with anything as the war stuff overwhelms them of thinking about anything else.Burn one for me and the other wishful. "Live, It's Saturday Night."
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Comment #5 posted by Virgil on March 29, 2003 at 18:19:40 PT

DRCnet.org
I was reading the Drug Reform Cordination Network website, DRCnet.org,for their coverage of the week's events. The hempfood ban was item #7 in this week's newsletter- http://www.drcnet.org/wol/280.html#collateralcanada This ban was announced last Friday and the fact that it was announced on a Friday shows that the DEA wanted to sneak it out at the end of the newsweek. It is a sad fact that we only have two sources mentioned so far telling us that the DEA is saying it has legislative powers that exceed Congress.Anyway, the DRCnet newsletter had a long piece with Weedman and an interesting statement about the UK class C implementation and its planned defense at the Vienna Conference. The 17th item announces upcoming events and it shows a multitude of upcoming conferences around the world including one in Thailand.The two articles posted at Cnews lack what is said in the last paragraph of the hempfood subject in #7 in the newsletter. It is sad but true-The US is the only major industrialized country to ban the growing and processing of industrial hemp. Now it wants to stop us from consuming it, too. 
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Comment #4 posted by mayan on March 29, 2003 at 18:08:26 PT

Hemp 4 Peace! 
If we would just re-legalize hemp, we would no longer need to launch pre-emptive attacks on sovereign nations to steal their oil...Cannabis Hemp:The Invisible Prohibition Revealed
http://www.sumeria.net/politics/invpro.htmlSHADOW OF THE SWASTIKA:The Real Reason the Government Won't Debate Medical Cannabis and Industrial Hemp Re-legalization
http://www.sumeria.net/politics/shadv3.htmlIt's all relative...Oil War:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/business/programmes/moneyprogramme/archive/oil.shtmlIraqi oil: One big sticky mess
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/EA22Ak01.htmlProtests renewed worldwide as public fears long Iraq conflict:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s819650.htmPeace Rallies, 2003:
http://www.veraanderson.com/peace/9/11 was a hoax: The American government killed its own people
http://onlinejournal.com/Commentary/032403Kaminski/032403kaminski.htmlKaminski's Best 9/11 Sites — 4th Edition:
http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0302/S00024.htm"MAKE NO MISTAKE ABOUT IT" 9/11 WAS AN "INSIDE JOB"
http://scribblguy.50megs.com/911inside.htm
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Comment #3 posted by AlvinCool on March 29, 2003 at 18:02:00 PT

What does it smell like?
Hey Dark Star, what does hemp soap smell like? Specifically does it smell like cannabis??
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Comment #2 posted by Virgil on March 29, 2003 at 17:12:43 PT

The other article is better
The article that appeared at Cnews on Thursday that included the following paragraph was much better. Isn't it strange that only 2 articles have been cited in the last 3 days where the DEA takes upon itself to ignore the courts and act like they can supersede the specific exemptions for hempseed and hempoil? Are we supposed to swallow this big lie that the big DEA is protecting us from one of the healthiest sources of nutritition known to man? The country is being run by madmen while the citizens are entertained with movies and television. From http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread15809.shtmlBackground on the DEA Hemp Food Fight Because trace infinitesimal THC (an active ingredient in marijuana) in hemp seed is non-psychoactive and insignificant, the U.S. Congress exempted non-viable hemp seed and oil from control under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) (see 21 U.S.C. '802(16)), just as Congress exempted poppy seeds from the CSA, although they contain trace opiates otherwise subject to control. Hemp seed has a well-balanced protein content and the highest content of essential fatty acids (EFAs) of any oil in nature: EFAs are the "good fats" that, like vitamins, the body does not produce and requires for good health. 
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Comment #1 posted by Dark Star on March 29, 2003 at 17:11:20 PT

Bring It On: Do Your Worst
Dark Star is an avid hemp products user, and has no plans to dump his collection of edible hemp seed, hulled seed, hemp brittle, or Dr. Bronner's soaps. Let them come and get me.
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