DEA SAYS IT HAS NO TASTE FOR HEMP-FLAVORED FOODS

Healthy Hemp Sprouted Bread. Hemp Plus Granola. Hempzel Pretzels. Hempseed
Energy Bars.

Those products, beginning to appear in stores, contain what is being
promoted as a nutritional wonder, rich in protein, vitamin E and two
essential fatty acids.

But drug officials have a different view of the hemp seeds and hemp oil
being added to ice cream, candy, salad oil, waffles and beer. To the Drug
Enforcement Administration, hemp and marijuana come from the same plant, so
one is as illegal as the other.

Food makers say their products contain little, if any, of the hallucinogen
found in marijuana, and certainly no more than the amount of opiate found
in a poppy-seed bagel. Nonetheless, the DEA has ordered any food containing
hemp off store shelves by early next month. Soaps, cosmetics and clothes
made with hemp may still be sold unless and until there is evidence that
the body can absorb the hemp in such products.

The DEA's order, issued Oct. 9, is the latest twist in an ongoing battle
between drug-control advocates and a growing number of farmers,
entrepreneurs and drug-reform advocates such as Cheers actor Woody
Harrelson who want to legalize industrial hemp.

The amount of food products containing hemp is small, accounting for only
about $5 million in sales annually, with most products sold in health-food
stores.

Hemp-food makers note that soy foods, considered a fringe food for health
enthusiasts only a few years ago, have become mainstream. It's no wonder,
then, that the hemp industry is fighting the DEA order, which takes effect
Feb. 6.

The Hemp Industries Association, which represents product manufacturers and
Canadian exporters of hemp seed, has asked the U.S. Court of Appeals to
issue a stay pending a ruling on its petition to overturn the DEA's order.

Meanwhile, Kenex Ltd. of Canada, the largest exporter of hemp seed to the
United States -- it is illegal to grow industrial hemp in most of this
country -- intends, under the North America Free Trade Agreement, to seek
compensation of at least $20 million as a result of the DEA's action.

"The level of THC" -- tetrahydrocannabinol, the hallucinogenic substance
found in marijuana -- "in hemp seeds is minuscule," said John Roulac,
founder and president of Nutiva, whose California company sells hemp bars,
chips and shelled hemp seeds.

DEA officials say the issue is simple: The ban is required by law. Under
the 1970 Controlled Substances Act, the DEA said, it has no choice but to
ban food with hemp seed.

DEA spokesman Will Glaspy said that although poppy seeds may contain trace
amounts of opiates, they are allowed in food because Congress specifically
exempted them from substance-abuse laws.

Hemp products have become increasingly popular, with annual sales now about
$25 million, mostly for clothing and body products such as soap and cosmetics.

Food is becoming the fastest-growing segment, as Roulac's sales show: In
1999 his company sold $211,000 of hemp-food products. Last year, sales
surpassed $445,000.