CONTROVERY BREWS OVER THE ADDITION OF HEMP SEEDS IN BEER

VANCOUVER, B.C. - Promoting hemp is one thing, but the folks at Bowen
Island Brewing say they want nothing to do with promoting marijuana.

Over the next few weeks, operators of the Vancouver-based microbrewery
hopes to get the high sign from Health Canada and the provincial liquor
agency to begin selling Hemp Cream Ale. So far, Canadian regulators have
been reluctant to approve beer flavored with hemp seeds.

Hemp and marijuana are varieties of cannabis. Hemp is a fiber-producing
strain and its seeds contain only trace amounts of tetrahydrocannabinol, or
TCH, the substance that gives pot its punch.

Importing and selling sterilized hemp seeds in Canada is legal, but
processing them is illegal, said Les Patterson, Bowen Island's sales
manager.

The question is whether adding them to beer is considered processing.

Federal and provincial officials would not comment on the issue, the
Vancouver Sun reported yesterday. Hemp-industry advocates say the issue
probably will become moot next month. That's when the Canadian federal
government is expected to revise the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act to
legalize the growing of hemp for commercial purposes.

Ruth Shamai, president of The Natural Order, an environmental mail-order
company in Toronto, said the changes will assure that Bowen Island can
legally use sterilized seeds, which are certified to meet government
standards.

Shamai, who was in Vancouver last week for the Commercial and Industrial
Hemp Symposium, supplied hemp seeds for test batches of the brew. Bowen
Island's publicity material describes the taste as a "delicious,
well-balanced nutty flavor with a hint of fruit and spice."

Laboratory tests indicated there was no detectable THC in the beer,
Patterson said.

The brewery began working on the new label last spring, attracted initially
by the marketing potential.

"The word hemp is certainly something that can get your curiosity going at
the best of times, and it can be controversial," Patterson said. "We had no
idea whether it was even legal to put it in beer."

Several U.S. producers put hemp in beer, and at least five U.S. breweries
are in full or trial productions of hemp beer, he said.

Patterson says Bowen Island wants nothing to do with any campaign to
legalize marijuana.

"We are, in fact, trying to promote the industrial hemp industry," he said.