cannabisnews.com: Birdseed Held at U.S. Border as Hemp Product





Birdseed Held at U.S. Border as Hemp Product
Posted by FoM on October 05, 1999 at 09:19:32 PT
American authorities treat it like marijuana
Source: National Post
Twenty tons of Ontario birdseed has been confiscated at the Windsor-Detroit border crossing as part of the U.S. war on drugs. 
The truckload of bird feed -- sterilized seeds processed from industrial hemp -- has been sitting in a Detroit warehouse since early August, after the U.S. Customs Service swooped down on it at the border. "It's very silly. They are telling us that this is a truck full of marijuana, when in fact a bug couldn't get a buzz from this seed," said Jean Laprise yesterday from his Chatham-area farm. Mr. Laprise said instead of enforcing the law, the U.S. drug officials are making it up because American legislation clearly exempts sterilized hemp seed from its list of controlled substances. He estimates the value of the birdseed at $35,000 and says he is now being threatened with fines of about $500,000 if he doesn't recall already shipped products. Hemp and marijuana are different types of Cannabis sativa, but the U.S. government rarely recognizes the distinctions when it comes to that particular plant species. It has been over a year since the Canadian government declared hemp a legitimate crop. The birdseed seizure is the first time the legislation change in Canada has run afoul of American drug laws. While smoking marijuana will lead to a noticeable high, smoking hemp will have no effect. The psychoactive component of marijuana, known as THC usually varies between five and 20% of a leaf. Rogene Waite, a spokeswoman at the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, said the U.S. controlled substance act defines hemp as marijuana. She released a statement from the agency which said that U.S. agencies "have become aware that sterilized cannabis seed has been imported into the U.S. for use in food products for human consumption. "Furthermore, some of that seed, and products made from the seed, may be contaminated with THC." The agency's position is that any product containing any amount of THC can only be imported into the U.S. by a company that is appropriately registered with DEA. John Roulac, the president of Nutiva, a California company which has been supplied Mr. Laprise, called the confiscation "crazy." "When there are real criminals running around, I guess we have to stay focused on people who are obeying the law," said Mr. Roulac. "The reality is that they are allowing shipments of hemp from France and Germany right into the U.S."Tuesday, October 05, 1999Copyright © Southam Inc.Related Articles & Web Sites:Bird Food Is a Casualty of the U.S. War on Drugs - 10/03/99http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread3120.shtmlNutivahttp://www.nutiva.com/Kenex LTD.http://www.kenex.com/DEA Sabotaging Legal Hemp Industry-10/01/99 http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread3103.shtmlDEA Seizes Hemp Seed Products; Threatens Industry-10/01/99 http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread3102.shtmlDEA Drug Hawks Swoop Down on Birdseed-9/30/99http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread3089.shtml 
END SNIP -->
Snipped
Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help




Comment #3 posted by Laxmiexport on September 08, 2000 at 01:16:11 PT:
About hemp product
Dear sir / MadamWe found your address from the Internet & become interested to introduce you about our company and product.We would like to introduce ourselves as Laxmi Export & Import. We are dealing with hand knitted hemp, hemp bags, and hemp textile, readymade garments & house decoration items.We focus on woman development & their self-supporting procedure by giving an opportunity of income generation. Women mainly knit our hemp products.If you are interested about our product & woman income-generating program, please simply send us an email about your interest. We will send all the information as soon as possible.Hope we will hear about your interest and we will be able to fulfill customer’s satisfaction.Sincerely Yours,Laxmi Export & ImportU.P. Sharma 
[ Post Comment ]

Comment #2 posted by Laxmiexportandimport on September 08, 2000 at 01:14:55 PT:
About hemp product
Dear sir / MadamWe found your address from the Internet & become interested to introduce you about our company and product.We would like to introduce ourselves as Laxmi Export & Import. We are dealing with hand knitted hemp, hemp bags, and hemp textile, readymade garments & house decoration items.We focus on woman development & their self-supporting procedure by giving an opportunity of income generation. Women mainly knit our hemp products.If you are interested about our product & woman income-generating program, please simply send us an email about your interest. We will send all the information as soon as possible.Hope we will hear about your interest and we will be able to fulfill customer’s satisfaction.Sincerely Yours,Laxmi Export & ImportU.P. Sharma 
[ Post Comment ]

Comment #1 posted by FoM on October 05, 1999 at 10:19:28 PT:
Related Article
Government's Zero-Tolerance for Drugs Snares Birdseed By Catherine TsaiAssociated Press10/05/99 06:20 Boston Globehttp://www.boston.com/DETROIT Canadian farmer Jean Laprise says his birdseed is 99.9986 percent pure. That's apparently not pure enough for the U.S. Customs Service. Nearly 20 tons of his seed made in part from industrialized hemp has been impounded at a Detroit warehouse after U.S. authorities discovered traces of THC, the chemical that gets marijuana smokers high. The U.S. Customs Service seized the seed Aug. 9. Spokesman Dean Boyd said agents were acting on the advice of the Drug Enforcement Administration. Hemp and marijuana are both varieties of the cannabis plant. While smokers can get a high off the 4 percent to 20 percent of a marijuana leaf that has THC, there's only 1 percent of the stuff in industrial hemp. And Laprise's sterilized birdseed is about 0.0014 percent hemp. ''It boils down to how many zeros do they want. Is it zero, zero point zero, or zero with 10 zeros behind that?'' Laprise said Monday. ''It's ridiculous. There are no psychoactive ingredients in birdseed.'' The seizure was the first for his company, Kenex Ltd., in its first year of selling commercially. He said the Customs Service also ordered him to recall 17 loads of earlier exports to the United States, including hemp oil, nuts, horse bedding and animal feed. The recall includes 45 boxes of hemp-seed granola bars made by Nutiva, a customer in Sebastopol, Calif. The recall and its effects have already forced one layoff at Nutiva, said company president John Roulac. ''One of the largest distributors in the U.S. was planning to pick up our bar, and they backed out after they heard the government was threatening action against us,'' Roulac said. The effects have even threatened everyday consumers. At Coup Restaurant in New York, chef Kevin Roth has had to scramble to keep his signature dish ''hemp seed and poppy crusted tuna'' on his menu. ''There are more impurities in a cheeseburger from McDonald's,'' he complained. 
[ Post Comment ]

Post Comment


Name: Optional Password: 
E-Mail: 
Subject: 
Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message]
Link URL: 
Link Title: