HEMP STORE TAKES HIT FROM FEDS

Owner Blasts Changing DEA Regulations On Products

War may be hell, but the "war on drugs" has propelled a Boulder
company that sells hemp-based foodstuffs into one hell of a confusing
predicament.

The confusion pertains to federal laws that regulate the importation
of industrial hemp products, which a host of innovative U.S. companies
now incorporate into snack foods, ice cream, and other goods.

According to Boulder Hemp Company co-owner Kathleen Chippi, the Drug
Enforcement Administration has re-written the federal laws - without
Congressional involvement or approval - three times within the past
five months.

"They haven't bothered to notify anybody in the hemp industry, and
they're not responding to the business people and the elected
officials who are trying to verify what they're doing," Chippi said.
"They're just pretty much ignoring everybody."

The most recent change to the policy occurred two weeks ago, when the
U.S. Customs Agency issued a memorandum which made all sterilized hemp
products containing any amount of measurable THC subject to immediate
seizure and confiscation.

The Jan. 5 memo superseded a policy that had been drafted less than
one month earlier, which allowed products containing less than .3
percent THC to be imported legally into the country.

THC is the psychoactive chemical in marijuana, which, of course, is a
controlled substance in the United States. But according to the
federal controlled substances act, hemp seeds can be legally imported
into the country as long as they are sterilized to prevent growth - no
matter how much residual THC they might contain.

Chippi, whose company manufactures tortilla chips and a host of other
foods containing sterilized hemp seeds, went to her elected officials
in Washington, D.C., for help in resolving the perplexing situation.
But she said she was more than a little disappointed with the
responses she got from Rep. Mark Udall, Sen. Wayne Allard, and
especially Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell.

"All I wanted from them was a letter saying we're not going to have
charges pressed against us, and that what we we're doing is legal,"
Chippi said. "But all that any of them did was to send my name, the
name of my company, my address and my phone number to the DEA."

And apparently, the DEA took interest in what Chippi's representatives
- - especially Campbell - had to say about her.

"The DEA did write a letter to Campbell's office, which basically just
confirms that they knew who I was and where my business was located,
and that they were acting on behalf of the 'American public safety,'"
Chippi quipped.

Representatives from Campbell's office, who said Wednesday morning
that they'd "look into" the situation, did not return phone calls to
the Colorado Daily by press time.

DEA spokeswoman Rogene Waite, who last October spoke at length with
the Daily about federal laws pertaining to the importation of
sterilized hemp seed, on Wednesday declined to comment on the new policy.

Chippi, meanwhile, this week expressed her exasperation over the
situation in a scathing and slightly irreverent letter to Campbell,
whom she'd flew to Washington to consult with last October.

"Is it your job to help citizens like me when they have a problem with
a federal agency?" Chippi wrote. "Do I have to pay you cash? Will I
get a receipt?"

But Chippi, who left samples of her company's products with Campbell's
staff, didn't stop there.

"Will I be going to jail for manufacturing the same Heavenly Hemp
chips that I left in your office?" Chippi quipped. "If the chips are
legal, why did you accept them? Would I be contacting Attorney General
Janet Reno to tell her that you have an illegal substance in your
office? Is it OK if she doesn't knock before she comes in?"

According to Chippi, the DEA's ever-changing regulations are part of
the federal government's effort to discredit and abolish the fledgling
domestic hemp industry.

"We're the only country in the world right now not growing industrial
hemp," Chippi said. "We started the drug war on industrial hemp, and
we're the only ones holding on to it."

And the DEA's vacillating regulations are definitely having a negative
impact on her business, Chippi said.

"This is creating a ton of confusion about hemp," she said. "I think
we've actually lost sales in the confusion over the last five months,
and retailers are afraid to put our products in their stores, because
at one point the DEA was saying they were going to press criminal
charges against every company that was selling it - which put us in a
rather bad position."

Still, Chippi said she's not going to be intimidated and allow her
company to become a collateral casualty of the war on drugs.

"We're going to be ordering seed and flour within the next three
weeks. If anything gets seized, all I can say is that we're going to
be so noisy about it that you'll know."

While Chippi would welcome all forms of public support, she said she
understands why people might be reluctant to speak out on the issue.

"I've definitely put myself out on the line, sending letters to the
DEA saying everything they're doing is illegal," she said. "I suspect
that most people would feel a little funny about doing something like
that."

Chippi has posted a host of DEA and U.S. Customs documents pertaining
to the situation on her company's Web site. To view them, log on to
http://www.hempfoods.com/

PHOTO CAPTION: David Almquist and Kathleen Chippi, co-owners of the
Boulder Hemp Company, transfer sterilized hemp seeds into a press to
extract oil for the high-protein meal used in the company's food
product. Almquist and Chippi are concerned that recent policy changes
enacted by the Drug Enforcement Administration will force them out of
business or subject them to federal drug charges.