SNACK FOOD MAKER FEARS DEA BUST

DEA Says Seeds Used In Food Cannot Contain Controlled Substances

Kathleen Chippi reminds callers on her answering machine to have "a
hempy day."

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration doesn't have a problem with
that, but industrial hemp companies better not be dabbling with
products of the higher kind.

Chippi is worried her homegrown business, Boulder Hemp Co., is
endangered after recent crackdowns by the DEA on other companies
making hemp-based foods.

Hemp advocates say the plant is an environmentally sound source of
food, fabric, paper and even beauty products.

"The DEA makes it seem like people are breaking the law by making hemp
foods and selling them, which is completely inaccurate," Chippi said.
"Yet, they are accountable to no one."

A California company making hemp-based nutrition bars was asked to
give up its inventory after federal drug agents said the bars could be
contaminated with THC - tetrahydrocannabanol, the active ingredient in
marijuana. The agents said the items didn't meet the United States'
zero-tolerance policy for controlled substances.

Chippi said it doesn't matter if the hemp seeds contain THC but that
they must be sterilized so they cannot be grown. Typically, hemp seeds
used in birdseed and human food has a THC content of roughly .0014
percent, she said. Smoking marijuana usually has a THC content between
5 percent and 10 percent, depending on the plant.

Chippi's company makes food products with the sterilized seeds,
including Heavenly Hemp chips, cookies and pancake mixes. The products
are sold in natural food stores such as Wild Oats and Whole Foods.

Chippi said the food products don't give people a "high," abide by the
law won't give non-pot smoking people a positive urinalysis test.

Her passion for the plant stems from the legacy it has in the United
States.

"We wouldn't even have white people in this country if Christopher
Columbus' sails weren't made of hemp," she said.

According to the Controlled Substances Act, it's unacceptable to have
any part of the Cannabis sativa plant, growing or not, including
seeds. However, the act allows for mature stalks of the marijuana
plant, fiber from these stalks and sterilized seeds incapable of
germination.

The Colorado Hemp Initiative Project bases its position on sterile
marijuana seed on a 1991 criminal case, said Laura Kriho, a
spokeswoman for the group. She contends a DEA investigator said in an
affidavit that the DEA doesn't consider sterile marijuana seeds sold
for birds to be a controlled substance, regardless of THC content.

This DEA affidavit, which appeared in part on the initiative's Web
site, could not be confirmed by the Daily Camera.

Hemp advocates argue it doesn't matter if it is birds or humans eating
the seeds.

Recently, the DEA became aware that the sterile, imported hemp seeds
were being added to human foods, said Rojene Waite, DEA
spokeswoman.

"Some of that seed, and the products made from the seed, may be
contaminated with THC," Waite said. "Under federal law, THC is a ...
controlled substance. Therefore, any product containing any amount of
THC can only be imported into the United States by a company that is
appropriately registered with the DEA.

"What a company should do if they are serious, they should contact the
local DEA office and ask about registration."

David Almquist, of Boulder Hemp Co., says the DEA's response to the
hemp-food products is reactionary.

"It's a Johnny-come-lately kind of policy that's been put out,"
Almquist said. "There's no legal basis for what they are saying. We
aren't doing anything wrong. If they go to court, they will lose. They
always lose."

Still, these laws have been a source of confusion and concern for the
Boulder Hemp Co. In 1997, the company was shipping a load of cookies
to a grocery store when the Wisconsin police took them. Eventually,
the police burned the cookies, worth about $380.

"The police said it was in the best interest of the community," Chippi
said.

More information is available from the Drug Enforcement Agency,
http://www.usdoj.gov/dea , and the Colorado Hemp Initiative Project,
http://www.levellers.org/dea.