U.S. POLICY APPLIES EQUALLY TO POT AND HEMP BIRDSEED

What do 40,000 pounds of birdseed have in common with America's war on
drugs?

Nothing, says Jean Laprise, an Ontario farmer who shipped the birdseed
to his American customers, only to have it seized when it crossed the
U.S.-Canadian border.

Everything, say the U.S. government and its critics, but for
altogether different reasons.

The birdseed, nearly 20 tons of it, has been locked in a Detroit
warehouse since Aug. 9, when it was impounded by the U.S. Customs
Service. The reason: the seed consists of sterilized seeds processed
from industrial hemp.

Laprise has found himself mired in one of the more bizarre episodes of
Washington's campaign to curb illicit drug use. Hemp and marijuana are
different varieties of the same plant species, Cannabis sativa, though
the government rarely distinguishes between them.

``They say it's a tractor-trailer full of drugs,'' Laprise said. ``We
say it's a tractor-trailer full of birdseed.''

But while smoking marijuana delivers a psychoactive high, smoking hemp
gives only a headache. Tetrahydrocannabinol, known as THC, the
psychoactive component in marijuana, usually varies between 4 and 20
percent of a leaf. Industrial hemp has a THC below 1 percent.

The birdseed seized in Detroit had a THC content of barely 0.0014
percent, which wouldn't give a bird a buzz.

John Roulac, the president of Nutiva, a company in Sebastapol, Calif.,
that buys hemp seeds from Laprise's operation for food products, said
that seeds themselves have no THC, and whatever gets detected comes
from contact with leaves of the hemp plant.

Roulac said the amount of THC was ``like an olive pit in a railroad
boxcar.''

Laprise, whose company, Kenex Ltd., grows and processes hemp with the
approval of the Canadian government, said that ``all of our other
products have no detectable level of THC. The only shipment with any
detectable amount was the birdseed, and it was really nothing.''

Though the U.S. government today views hemp with suspicion, it was
historically an agricultural staple used in everything from ropes and
sails to clothing and the first American flag supposedly sewn by Betsy
Ross. It has been virtually illegal since 1937.

Last year, Canada declared hemp a legitimate crop and has granted
growers' licenses for 35,000 acres. Britain, France and Germany also
have commercial hemp industries. Hawaii, North Dakota and Minnesota
passed laws approving hemp this year as a crop for hard-pressed farmers.

Kenex's customers, who snap up Laprise's hemp seeds and fibers for
everything from food for animals and people to beauty products and
horse bedding, have been outraged by the seizure in Detroit.

``What in the heck are they doing arresting birdseed?'' said Anita
Roddick, the British founder of the Body Shop, whose organic hair- and
skin-care products have used hemp oil produced by Laprise.

``It's so Monty Pythonesque,'' Roddick said, referring to the antic
comedians who mocked life's absurdities. ``They're chasing around
bloody birdseed. It's making the DEA look stupid.''

Federal law enforcement officials defended the seizure. DEA spokesman
Terry Parham said, ``Our understanding is there is no legal way for
hemp seed to have come in that contains any quantity of THC.'' He
explained that no product containing THC could be imported except by a
company registered with the DEA, and that no companies are registered.