20 TONS OF BIRDSEED 'DRUG' IMPOUNDED

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 bird food 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 makes up between 4
percent 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 even give a bird a buzz.

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.

Critics of U.S. drug policy, who want to see drug laws liberalized,
have reacted gleefully to the birdseed seizure, contending that it
shows how dumb the war on drugs can get.