obviously hemp purses are a gateway drug...

[Guest guest]

so much for this " leather " alternative...1. Editorial: I Feel Safer Already

 

David Borden, Executive Director, borden, 10/12/01

 

The United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), under new leadership in

the form of long-time Congressional drug warrior Asa Hutchinson, has found a new

target in its federal drug war. DEA's new crusade is sure to ensure the agency's

continued relevance as law enforcement priorities are recalibrated in the wake

of the September 11th attacks on our nation.

 

DEA's new target is foods made with hemp. According to DEA, since any hemp

contains some quantity of THC, foods made with hemp are illegal. Illegal to

sell, illegal to consume. Pretzels, oil, candy bars, cheese substitutes, that

sort of thing. Not enough THC in them to get you high, not in a million years.

 

I feel safer already.

 

No, I really mean it. I mean, if Americans can eat food made with hemp, it's

inevitable that half or more of us will find ourselves sucked into the drug

culture and wind up addicted to crack cocaine.

 

And if you're not sure that last statement makes sense, you can be sure the

DEA's hemp policy is equally well reasoned.

 

And perhaps illegal. Hemp has been considered an exception to the Controlled

Substances Act since that act was written. Congress simply didn't mean to ban

non-psychoactive hemp. After all, why would they? Regulating domestic

cultivation of hemp out of existence is one thing -- that's wrong too -- but it

has always been legal to import, sell and consume. DEA has no legal power to

change the law. They claim that they are merely interpreting the law, that it

has always been illegal; the agency just didn't bother to enforce the law this

way since its founding in the 1970s, just as its predecessors didn't bother

since marijuana prohibition was enacted in the 1930s.

 

In truth, non-psychoactive hemp is legal. DEA bureaucrats are lying about the

issue in an attempt to change the law administratively, something that

constitutionally only Congress is supposed to be able to do.

 

Which strongly suggests something that some of us in drug policy reform have

felt for many years: DEA is a rogue agency run by fanatical kooks.

 

Do you feel safer?

 

 

 

--

 

2. DEA Bans Consumption of Hemp Foods Effective Immediately

 

In the latest move in the Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA) quixotic

crusade against cannabis in any form, the agency has published administrative

rules that effectively ban the consumption of food products containing hemp oil,

hemp seed, or any other product containing any quantity of THC -- no matter how

miniscule. THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) is the primary psychoactive ingredient in

marijuana, but is found in only low concentrations in cannabis plants bred to

produce hemp. A common formulation for gauging the consciousness-altering

capacity of hemp is " you'd have to smoke a joint the size of a telephone pole to

get high. "

 

In announcing the rules, DEA chief Asa Hutchinson explained that " many Americans

do not know that hemp and marijuana are both parts of the same plant and that

hemp cannot be produced without producing marijuana. "

 

In its press release, the agency clarified further: " While most of the THC in

cannabis plants is concentrated in the marijuana, all parts of the plant,

including hemp, have been found to contain THC. The existence of THC in hemp is

significant because THC, like marijuana, is a schedule I controlled substance.

Federal law prohibits human consumption and possession of schedule I controlled

substances. In addition, they are not approved by the Food and Drug

Administration for medical use. The rules that DEA is publishing today explain

which hemp products are legal and which are not. This will depend on whether the

product causes THC to enter the human body. If the product does cause THC to

enter the human body, it is an illegal substance that may not be manufactured,

sold, or consumed in the United States. Such products include 'hemp' foods and

beverages that contain THC. If, however, the product does not cause THC to enter

the human body, it is a non-controlled substance that may lawfully be sold in

the United States. Included in the category of lawful hemp products are

textiles, such as clothing made using fiber produced from cannabis plant stalks.

Also in the lawful category are personal care products that contain oil from

sterilized cannabis seeds, such as soaps, lotions, and shampoos. "

 

The DEA helpfully listed the kinds of hemp products that are now banned: beer,

cheese, coffee, corn chips, energy drink, flour, ice cream, snack bars, salad

oil, soda, veggie burgers.

 

The agency is granting a grace period for merchants and producers stuck with

what is now potentially felonious inventory. " As set forth in the rules, any

person who currently possesses illegal THC-containing 'hemp' products will have

120 days (until February 6, 2002) to dispose of such products or remove them

from the United States. However, during this grace period, no person may

manufacture or distribute any such product for human consumption within the

United States, " the agency explained.

 

" Oh, my goodness, I didn't know that, " said Rose Phillips, the owner of Hemptown

Rock, a full-line hemp products store in San Marcos, TX. " This will affect me, "

she told DRCNet. " I have shampoos, creams, lotions, soaps, and I have cancer and

AIDS patients using hemp seed oil. This will hurt people with medicinal needs, "

she said.

 

The rules " will be devastating, " said the owner of an East Coast hemp foods

store and restaurant who declined to be named. " I don't want it known I know the

regulations have been published, " he told DRCNet.

 

The new administrative rules have been coming down the pike for months, and the

hemp industry waged an energetic but ultimately fruitless battle to sway the

DEA. The anti-drug agency had also expressed concerns that hemp-based foods

would interfere with widespread drug-testing programs, and the industry

responded with its Test Pledge program (http://www.testpledge.com). Under the

program, companies promised to test each batch of hemp seed or hemp oil to

ensure that its THC levels remained low enough to prevent positive results for

marijuana in drug tests.

 

The industry also attempted to persuade the DEA with science, but the agency

remained immune. In a study jointly commissioned by the Canadian government and

the hemp industry last year, researchers found that " a conflict between hemp

food consumption and workplace drug testing is most unlikely " if THC levels

common in hemp-based foods are used and if the tests follow federal guidelines.

 

According to an alert sent out by David Bronner, president of Dr. Bronner's

Magic Soaps and chair of the Hemp Industries Association (http://www.thehia.org)

Food and Oil Committee, representatives of the association are meeting with

their lawyers in Washington this week. Bronner wrote that the HIA would seek a

temporary restraining order to stop the regulations from taking effect.

 

Bronner also urged that people engage in civil disobedience by ordering lots of

delicious, nutritious hemp goodies from the Test Pledge companies, a roster that

now includes 21 businesses, from the Cool Hemp Company ( " Christina's Hemp

Cookies " ) to Canadian grower and processor Kenex ( " Virgin Emerald Hemp Oil " ).

 

Hemptown Rock's Rose Phillips exhibited some of the same defiant attitude. " I

will continue to sell until someone walks in my store and makes me stop, " she

said. " This will make people really angry, " she said. " There are a lot of things

the government needs to be doing right now, and worrying about whether someone

has a hemp seed inside him isn't one of them. "

 

Phillips paused, then added, " My mother has skin cancer, and hemp oil lotions

have improved her skin. If they're trying to tell me that giving her hemp oil to

help her condition is now illegal, well tough. Go ahead and throw me in jail. "

 

But, she added, in the meantime she will be consulting her attorney.

 

(The DEA press release, as well as links to the rules as published in the

Federal Register on October 9, are available at

http://www.dea.gov/advisories.html online.)