STUDY: HEMP FOOD PRODUCTS SAFE

The report found that people who eat food that includes hemp in its
production do not test positive for drugs.

FRANKFORT -- Rick Paul pointed at a piece of raw steak on a light
blue ceramic plate in his Frankfort diner.

``That steak was frozen in May and look at it,'' he said. ``You can
eat that and it'll taste like it was cut fresh yesterday.''

More important than an extended shelf-life, said Paul, the beef, cut
from hemp-fed cattle, can be eaten without fear of flunking a drug
test.

This week at Rick's White Light Diner, the Kentucky Hemp Growers
Cooperative Association released the results of a test that showed
hemp food products sold at the Bridge Street diner are safe to eat.

The results contradicted information Frankfort city employees got in
September from their Nashville drug-testing company. Consultants for
National Safety Alliance said some hemp items contained small amounts
of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, which could lead to a
positive urinalysis for drug-tested workers, although that was held
unlikely.

The association is pushing for the ability to grow and process hemp in
Kentucky instead of purchasing it from Canada or other countries where
it is grown legally. It sponsored a Hemp Banquet in December where six
people chowed down on a typical meal of meats, vegetables and beer
that was either made or cooked with hemp seed, hemp meal or hemp oil.

Just before the meal and after the meal, the participants gave urine
samples for a drug test.

Helen Spencer, owner of Forward Edge Associates, a Lexington
drug-testing agency, sent the samples to Premier Analytical
Laboratories in Texas. The result: all six were THC-negative.

`This study helps us promote the product and hopefully gives people
some comfort,'' said Andy Graves, association president. ``We
dispelled a myth. We're glad we can gloat.''