Milwaukee Police Seize Cache of Birdseed

by Bill Lueders

DRUG WAR SWOOPS DOWN ON LOCAL BIRD FEEDERS

Kathleen Chippi believes she is the victim of theft. But she can't report
it to the Milwaukee Police Department. That's who she's accusing of ripping
her off.

"Theft is theft," she says. "You can't have police officers walk in,
disregard the law and steal a legal product."

On Nov. 12, Milwaukee police intercepted a UPS package bound for Madison
from Chippi's company, One Brown Mouse Heavenly Hemp Foods in Nederland,
Colorado. The shipment included a 50lb. bag of sterilized hemp seeds, as
well as hemp seed oil, hemp cookies, hotcake and pizza mix.

Hemp, better known as marijuana, is grown commercially in China; the seized
seeds, used for birdseed and in cooking, were heattreated to prevent them
from reproducing.

Sarah BloomRay, coproprietor of Hempen Goods in Madison, to which the
package was being sent, says Milwaukee police Det. Philip Sliwinski told
her the seeds would not be released because they had tested positive for
THC residue; he claimed this was illegal under state law. She also received
an almost impenetrable letter, dated Nov. 13, from Police Sergeant Alan E.
Seer.

"Please be advised this is your first and only notice," it began. "The
Milwaukee Police Department Property Control Section has property listing
you as the rightful owner/claimant. All property listed may not be
releasable. The items referred to in this letter DO NOT include any type of
firearm."

The letter said Hempen Goods could pick up "releasable property"
presumably the rest of the shipment within 30 days, or "it will disposed
of, according to law." [Sic]

One Brown Mouse advised Hempen Goods against picking up the package, and
plans to replace the entire $200 order (the bag of seeds cost $65). "We
send our stuff all over the world," says Chippi, noting that her company
has been in business three years, abides strictly by the law and has never
had problems shipping anything before. "We're completely legitimate."

Chippi, represented by Milwaukee attorney James Shellows, vows to sue
unless the entire shipment is returned. "They don't understand the law,"
she says of the Milwaukee cops. "Sterilized seed with THC residue is legal
in this country."

It appears, at first, second and even third glance, that Chippi is right.
Sterilized hemp seed is legal under state and federal law, whether or not
the Milwaukee Police Department likes it.

It's in the state Statutes, right under Definitions: Marijuana "does not
include ... the sterilized seed of the plant which is incapable of
germination." Confirms Jim Haney, spokesperson to Attorney General James
Doyle, "Possession of these seeds is not against state law."

Even the federal government, which sets the standard for dishonesty and
foolishness in the War on Drugs, agrees that hemp seeds are not The Enemy.

Charles Metcalf, a senior investigator with the Drug Enforcement
Administration, testified in 1991 that his office "is aware that sterile
marijuana seed sold as birdfeed is likely to contain residue and
particulate vegetable matter which will test positive for the presence of
THC, the active ingredient of marijuana. The DEA does not require sterile
marijuana seed placed into commerce as birdfeed to be free of all such
residue and particulate matter. The DEA does not consider sterile marijuana
sold as birdfeed to be a controlled substance. ..."

And the FDA has cleared sterilized hemp seeds for culinary use. "If the
hemp seed is heattreated there is no active ingredient in it and yes, it
may be used in food," said FDA spokesperson Judy Foulke in 1996. "It's as
harmless as a poppy seed."

Why, then, is the Milwaukee Police Department refusing to release the
seeds? If some law is being broken, why not issue citations and make
arrests? Is the vice squad really so dumb about drug use that it thinks
someone is going to smoke seeds in a futile effort to catch a buzz (rather
than a headache)? How does the department respond to Chippi's charge that
the police are not only ignoring the law but breaking it by stealing her
property?

"You're not going to get my point of view I'll tell you that right now,"
says Lt. Edward Librecht, a vice squad official to whom Chippi spoke.
Librecht twice refused comment, saying even to ask him questions was to
"subvert" the process. He deferred to the department's shockingly inept
public relations office, where police spokesperson Lt. Anna Ruvinski
ignored three phone messages, including one in which an aide took down
detailed information. Charged with incompetence and abuse of the law, the
response of the MPD is to plead no contest.

Chippi thinks this is an instance where the cops need to have their leashes
yanked. As she puts it, "As long as the police legally carry weapons and
can legally shoot me, they should be aware of the laws they are enforcing."