HEMP, HEMP, HOORAY!

Hemp-food sellers praise FDA for ending legal food fight

Santa Cruz retailers Monday hailed the federal government's decision
not to pursue a ban on food made with or from the controversial hemp
plant.

The decision comes three years after the Bush administration tried to
stop sales of food made with hemp, which contains trace amounts of
tetrahydrocannobinol, or THC, the mind-altering chemical in marijuana.

"It seems ridiculous to me that it shouldn't be legal," said Kiona
Pfeiffer, a vitamin sales clerk at Staff of Life Natural Foods Market
in Santa Cruz.

A popular ingredient in foods from energy bars to waffles to milk-free
cheese, hemp has been lauded as a high source of protein, fiber and
omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids.

Hemp food sellers say their products contain such a small amount of
the active ingredient in marijuana that it's impossible to experience
any drug-like effects.

Monday night was the deadline for the government to challenge a
federal appellate court's February decision to the Supreme Court that
the United States cannot ban the domestic sale of hemp foods.

Patrick Goggin, a San Francisco lawyer representing the Hemp
Industries Association, said the government informed the group's legal
team that it would let Monday's deadline to appeal expire.

"I think they're choosing their battles. They don't see
this as a battle they can win," Goggin said.

Justice Department spokesman Charles Miller declined comment.

The San Francisco-based appeals court said that although the Drug
Enforcement Administration has regulatory authority over marijuana and
synthetically-derived THC, the agency did not have the authority to
ban foods derived from hemp. The court said it was not possible to get
high from products with only trace amounts of the mind-altering chemical.

Hemp is an industrial plant related to marijuana. Fiber from the plant
long has been used to make paper, clothing, rope and other products.
Its oil is found in body-care products such as lotion, soap and cosmetics.

Three years ago, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals put the law
stopping its sale on hold, allowing the industry to continue marketing
its hemp-food products with hemp produced in Canada and overseas while
the legal battle continued.

With the wait over and ban lifted, Mariana Friedman, nutrition and
body care coordinator for New Leaf Markets in Santa Cruz, Capitola,
Felton and Boulder Creek, said she expects more brands to market the
popular hemp items.

"Now that a lot of the pressure from the government has cooled off, I
think a lot of companies will be carrying it," Friedman said. "It's
one of the new buzzwords."

Other retailers said they hope to see less government scrutiny of the
hemp products they stock.

For example, Marquita Garcia, cashier at Gypsy Rose in Santa Cruz,
said her store has imported hemp fabric from India and China, only to
have it held up in customs. The hassle became so big that the store
finally stopped carrying it.

At Eco Goods in Santa Cruz, store manager Lily Ruderman said the
decision not only allows her to continue stocking shelves with hemp
nutrition bars, but ensures other items will remain in the store as
well.

"It could have gone on to place a ban on hemp body care products or
hemp clothing," Ruderman said. "It's a really important precedent."

The case is Hemp Industries Association v. Drug Enforcement
Administration, 03-71366.