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VoteHemp.com
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
APRIL 17, 2003
4:23 PM
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CONTACT:
VoteHemp.com
Adam Eidinger, 202-986-6186
Zoe Mitchell, 202-232-8997
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Ninth Circuit Court Blocks DEA Hemp Rule
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FRANCISCO - April 17 - U.S. COURT of APPEALS for the NINTH CIRCUIT
- Late yesterday the Court granted the hemp industry's Motion
to Stay the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA's) "Final
Rule," which was issued March 21, 2003 and would have banned the
sale of nutritious hemp foods containing harmless trace amounts
of naturally-occurring THC under the Controlled Substances Act
(CSA) of 1970. This "Final Rule" is virtually identical to an
"Interpretive Rule" issued on October 9, 2001 that never went
into effect because of a Ninth Circuit Court Stay issued on March
7, 2002.
Both Motions
to Stay were brought jointly by the Hemp Industries Association
(HIA) and several major hemp food companies in the U.S. and Canada.
The court is currently hearing a substantive challenge to the
Final Rule, which the hemp industry is optimistic that the Court
will ultimately invalidate.
Because trace
infinitesimal THC in hemp seed is non-psychoactive and insignificant,
the U.S. Congress exempted non-viable hemp seed and oil from control
under the CSA, just as Congress exempted poppy seeds from the
CSA, although they contain trace opiates otherwise subject to
control. The hemp industry is assuring retailers and consumers
that hemp food products should continue to be stocked, sold and
consumed. Joe Sandler, counsel for the HIA, stated: "The Court's
order effectively prevents DEA from enforcing its 'Final Rule.'
With this stay in effect, all those who sell, import, manufacture,
distribute and retail edible hemp oil and seed, and oil and seed
products, can continue those activities secure in the knowledge
that such products remain perfectly lawful."
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. Dr. Udo Erasmus, an internationally recognized nutritional
authority on fats and oils, writes in Fats that Heal - Fats that
Kill: "Hemp seed oil may be nature's most perfectly balanced oil."
Not surprisingly, shelled hemp seed and oil are increasingly used
in natural food products, such as corn chips, nutrition bars,
hummus, nondairy milks, breads and cereals. In the last few years,
the hemp foods industry has grown from less than $1 million a
year to over $5 million in retail sales.
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.
Please visit
http://VoteHemp.com
to read scientific studies of hemp foods and see court documents.
For more information or to arrange interviews with representatives
of the hemp industry, please call Adam Eidinger at 202-986-6186
or 202-744-2671 (cell).
###
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