MINNEAPOLIS BAKERY BREATHES EASIER WITH LOOSER HEMP FOODS POLICY

Nervous about inhaling a slice of the "Healthy Hemp Sprouted Bread" at
the French Meadow Bakery in Minneapolis?

Don't be. The feds have been told to back off.

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled Friday
that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) was wrong to establish
rules that defined certain natural hemp products as controlled
substances when used to prepare food for human consumption.

Five years ago, French Meadow introduced a bread made with hempseed,
which can contain nonpsychoactive trace amounts of THC -- the element
that makes its cannabis cousin marijuana an illegal drug.

"We're very happy," said Lynn Gordon, founder and president of French
Meadow, which had sold the bread at natural-foods stores and other
retail outlets throughout the country until the DEA issued its warnings.

Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak was among supporters who backed French
Meadow and its hemp industry allies, proclaiming a "Healthy Hemp Bread
Day" last year.

"And he said he ate it every day," Gordon said.

"We continued to bake it locally because we have our cafe, and that
was our main venue for selling it," Gordon said.

"Many retailers have started ordering again, and this decision should
have a great impact.

"It's been hard for us. We had to put so much energy into persuading
retailers to keep stocking it."

The DEA had announced plans to ban foods made with hempseed and hemp
oil last April, but the Appeals Court stayed the order at the request
of a hemp industry association.

The Appeals Court had stayed an earlier form of the proposed rule in
2002.

Adam Eidinger of Vote Hemp, a grass-roots advocacy group in
Washington, D.C., that promotes hemp food, fiber and other products,
said that Friday's decision was "huge" for the U.S. hemp industry.

"Companies that are selling hemp products are going to be able to
attract more investment, and a lot more stores are going to be selling
the products," he said. "The DEA from now on can't harass us or tell
the public that these products are illegal. They've been shot down."

Trace amounts of THC found in some hemp products "are not nearly
enough to get you high or cause you to fail a drug test," Eidinger
said, just as eating a poppyseed muffin "doesn't mean you're on opium."

French Meadow's coarse hemp bread "makes great grilled cheese
sandwiches," Gordon said, "and we use it for our hemp eggs Benedict,
with organic poached eggs and a sauce we make with watercress and avocado."