cannabisnews.com: Let Them Eat Hemp?





Let Them Eat Hemp?
Posted by FoM on December 11, 2001 at 07:21:55 PT
By William Weir, Courant Staff Writer 
Source: Hartford Courant 
Earlier this week, a group of Wesleyan University students handed out pretzels to passersby in front of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration office in Hartford. Though tasty and nutritious, those "hemp seed pretzels" could soon become a controlled substance in the same category as marijuana and heroin, should a DEA proposal go through as planned, said student Booth Haley. 
According to the proposal, any business or individual in possession of a hemp food product that bears even trace amounts of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, after Feb. 6 would be in violation of laws that prohibit possession of a "schedule I controlled substance," a classification that includes marijuana and heroin. THC is the chemical that gives marijuana its hallucinatory effects.The agency is allowing a 120-day grace period for businesses to rid their inventories of the products. The DEA announced the change Oct. 9. Technically, the regulation would not be a new law, but a new interpretation of existing ones regarding marijuana. Spokeswoman Rogene Waite said it could be changed by Feb. 6. The Wesleyan students' demonstration was one of several in the nation organized by a national organization called Students for a Sensible Drug Policy. Opponents of the proposal say the hemp part of the cannabis plant contains so little THC that it would be virtually impossible to get high off any product that uses it. Haley said banning hemp products based on their level of THC is like banning poppy seeds for their trace amounts of opiates.Many speculate that the new interpretation is due to the complications hemp products cause in drug testing. Often, people who test positive for marijuana claim they had recently ingested a hemp food product. The DEA says that it is simply staying consistent in regard to its drug laws. Hemp products on the market include pasta, waffles, bread, snack bars and hemp nut butter, which are sold at several health food stores in the state. At Earth Balance in Simsbury, owner Kathy Pianka extolled the virtues of hemp, calling it a "complete food" high in protein and essential fatty acids. She said her own hemp-based products have proven popular. Pianka said she thinks the main reason for the proposal is that people just don't know enough about hemp. "I think there's a big misconception that it's just like marijuana," she said. Although the proposal would have a significant effect on the hemp industry nationwide, she said, it would make only a small dent in her business. Exactly how these new rules will play out is unclear at this point, said DEA spokesman Tom Hinojosa. While businesses selling these products would clearly be in violation, he said, the case of an individual in possession of one is a "gray area." Ultimately, he said, it will be up to the U.S. attorney's office and Department of Justice to decide how to prosecute these cases. "I don't think a cop's going to stop you on the street and say, `Hey, what's in the pasta?'" he said. Note: Plan To Make Food Containing It Illegal Draws Protest.Source: Hartford Courant (CT) Author: William Weir, Courant Staff Writer Published: December 11, 2001 Copyright: 2001 The Hartford Courant Contact: letters courant.com Website: http://www.hartfordcourant.com/ Related Articles & Web Sites:Hemp Pretzelshttp://www.hempzels.com/FTE's Hemp Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/hls.htmCannabisNews Hemp Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/hemp.shtmlDEA Bans Some Hemp Products Beginning Feb. 6http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11536.shtmlDEA Rule Threatens To Shut Down Hemp Industryhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11476.shtml 
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Comment #10 posted by Sam Adams on December 11, 2001 at 15:30:13 PT
easy answer to this one
EJ wrote:"Could there be a more candyass law enforcement mission in the world than saving American consumers from hemp ice cream?How can these men still feel like men when they've been given that kind of mission?"Hmmm, probably the same way the DEA agents feel like men after forcing a masectomized lady and her to kids to the ground, handcuffing them for a couple hours and tearing their house apart. Or probably the same the way the cops felt who arrested the pot-smoking lady in the southwest (forget which state) who had no arms or legs. Or, the cop in California who shot the 6 year old in the back, while the kid was handcuffed and face-down on the floor during an LSD raid that found no drugs. Unfortunately, the human DNA mix cranks out sadists every once in a while, and our society has decided to hire as many as we can, give 'em uniforms, and increase their power every year.........
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Comment #9 posted by E_Johnson on December 11, 2001 at 13:18:29 PT
Big Pharm not popular with my doctors
I've heard younger doctors complain bitterly that the pharmaceutical industry is getting richer and richer while young doctors are increasingly NOT getting rich or even earning an upper middle class income any more.I'm sure they're all deeply touched by the active contribution that the DEA is making towards preventing the disease and injury that stress the health care system to bursting by making sure that any Americans who eat hemp ice cream after Feb.6 run the risk of federal prosecution.That's such a public health priority, after all. Since the rest of the American health care sysem is obviously functioning so perfectly well and doesn't need any attention.Big Pharm seems rather resented from where I am right now. Maybe the tide on that is about to turn as well.
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Comment #8 posted by kaptinemo on December 11, 2001 at 12:29:14 PT:
E_J, I disagree
Most doctors have the same degree of respect for the DEA that your average schoolyard denizen does for the local bully.The DEA, an non-medical entity, has the ability to insert itself between the doctor and the patient in a very quiet but no less intrusive and destructive way. It can and doesforce doctors to undermedicate intractable pain patients for fear of eliciting the DEA's scrutiny in prescribing 'too many' high powered pills for one person. Millions suffer needlessly because of that. Because of them. While the DEA merrily trundles along, oblivious to the suffering it creates, destroying lives by the handful and smiling at their protests.Too bad the AMA is little more than the perpetually supine, legs-in-the air 'camp follower' of the pharmaceutical industries; if they truly were concerned for their patient's health, they would be using their quite considerable political power to back MMJ initiatives and band together to run the DEA out of their lives. 
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Comment #7 posted by p4me on December 11, 2001 at 12:12:33 PT
hemp clothing
Yesterday China became a member of the WTO. I hope this gives us a chance to buy some reasonably priced hemp clothing. I have looked at hemp clothing on the net and it is too expensive for me. If anybody finds some reasonably priced hemp clothing I trust they will tell us here at Cnews. I encourage everyone to vote with their money. Take your vacation in a MJ friendly country if you can. It will only be three more weeks until the Euro becomes the currency in many countries in Europe. I hope this increases travel abroad and shows the businessmen in this country we are sick of these ridiculous MJ laws and that it will cost them dearly to continue the prohibition stradegy. This crap about making something like hemp food products is insane and we are letting them get away with it. It is a good laugh at their expense though. The wall is still crumbling and we have to knock it down people.Vote with your money. Do not contribute to charity or buy anything that is not necessary. The numbers will eventually add up. Stay at home and have a thrifty meal and meditate on the sick and dying that be helped when we change these stupid laws. We surely need to divert more money to education because look at the ignorance of our leaders much less our young.
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Comment #6 posted by E_Johnson on December 11, 2001 at 11:25:52 PT
Doctors are going to think the DEA is a joke now
A lot of doctors have honest respect for the DEA. They ought to, because the DEA controls their right to prescribe medication. There have to be checks and balances in the system. Nobody wants a system without any rules or any enforcement.But how can anyone with an MD respect an agency that seriously argues that hemp ice cream is a threat to public health and safety?This DEA hemp food ban is a fascinating exercise in bureaucratic suicide. It doesn't matter that the hemp community is mad at the DEA, because that's what they want. This is an act of political provocation and an expression of political domination, pure and simple, and the real goal of the exercise was to smack a big steel-toed boot into the face of the entire cannabis resistance movement in America.But it matters if doctors and other law enforcement people start to think the DEA is becoming a joke.Especially during a time when we're battling an enemy who banned music, women and shaving as part of their new Godly moral order.
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Comment #5 posted by john wayne on December 11, 2001 at 10:58:36 PT
No way.
Cops don't give a f**k what they can bust you for. If cops are somehow noble and above busting people for trivialites, then why are they so gung-ho for the drug war?
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Comment #4 posted by dddd on December 11, 2001 at 09:49:39 PT
Excellent point EJ
...I especially like the term,"candyass"!.....the SWAT team bustin' down the doors of Baskin & Robbins,to break up the hemp ice cream cartel,and seize all their assets!....Next,,it's on to those terrorist slimeballs who make shampoos and lotions out of hemp.........the actions of the DEA,provide ample proof that people who use,and consume drugs,are far less dangerous,and more sane,than those who sit in the dark corners of the drug war sham!......dddd
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Comment #3 posted by E_Johnson on December 11, 2001 at 09:43:44 PT
And I'm sure the US Attorneys are jumping at it!
Ultimately, he said, it will be up to the U.S. attorney's office and Department of Justice to decide how to prosecute these cases.Like every US Attorney in the country is just jumping at the chance to build his or her career future political career on their number of hemp ice cream convictions.This administration is dragging all of American law enforcement through the mud with their insane vendetta against marijuana.
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Comment #2 posted by E_Johnson on December 11, 2001 at 09:37:45 PT
Aren't real cops annoyed by this candyass BS?
Ooh I'm a big tough drug agent, I face down drug cartels with armed goons, I get death thrreats, I wear flak jackets, and now I'm going to go bust the manager of a supermarket for selling hemp ice cream.Don't these people a little bit castrated in public by being made to treat hemp ice cream like it's heroin?Could there be a more candyass law enforcement mission in the world than saving American consumers from hemp ice cream?How can these men still feel like men when they've been given that kind of mission?I don't get it, it seems like they want to give up their manhood for Ashcroft and Hutchinson. Who in America is going to respect the work of drug agents who target hemp ice cream?It's almost as if Ashcroft wants the DEA to become an object of public derision.
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Comment #1 posted by greenfox on December 11, 2001 at 07:27:37 PT
censorship
""I don't think a cop's going to stop you on the street and say, `Hey, what's in the pasta?'" he said. "No, but it will definately be used as one of the many, many reasons to "hold" a person if they want to. Plus, they say that now... with the current lockdown on amerikkka, give it.. oh.. .five years/////...///-gf
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