TWO-YEAR COURT FIGHT OVER HEMP FOODS IN FINAL STAGES

Hemp Industry Association Files Brief to Keep Hemp Foods Legal

SAN FRANCISCO, June 26 /U.S. Newswire/ - U.S. Court of Appeals for
the Ninth Circuit - On Tuesday, June 24, the Hemp Industries
Association (HIA), which represents the interests of the Hemp
Industry and encourages the research and development of new hemp
products, filed a brief in the Ninth Circuit asking for a review of
the Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA) "Final Rule" regarding
hemp foods. If this new "Final Rule" were to take effect, it would
ban hemp seed and oil and consequently destroy the multimillion
dollar hemp food industry.

Due to a Court ordered Stay, hemp foods remain perfectly legal to
import, sell and consume while the Court hears arguments from the
HIA and DEA and renders a decision.

The HIA brief charges that the DEA's "Final Rule" should be
invalidated because the agency is exercising arbitrary and
capricious authority by attempting to outlaw hemp seed and oil
without holding formal hearings on the issue or finding any
potential for abuse. Because trace infinitesimal THC in hemp seed is
non-psychoactive and insignificant, Congress exempted non-viable
hemp seed and oil from control under the Controlled Substances Act
(CSA), just as Congress exempted poppy seeds from the CSA, although
they contain trace opiates otherwise subject to control. The brief
also charges that the DEA acted in an arbitrary and capricious
manner in exempting hemp seed mixed with animal feed, although
Congress made no such distinction in the CSA.

Additionally, the brief elucidates other major failures by the
DEA-namely, the lack of hearings on this issue and the failure to
comply with the Regulatory Flexibility Act, which requires assessing
effects of the proposed change on small businesses. The brief and
other court documents are available at
http://www.votehemp.com/PDF/HIAvDEA_finalrules_petition.pdf

Final Legal Schedule in Hemp Food Fight

. July 24, 2003: Deadline for DEA's response to HIA brief.

. August 8, 2003: Deadline for HIA's reply to DEA's response.

. September 17, 2003: Oral Arguments begin in San Francisco, Calif.

The "Final Rule," issued on March 21, 2003, is virtually identical
to an "Interpretive Rule" issued on October 9, 2001 that never went
into effect because of a Ninth Circuit Stay issued on March 7, 2002.
On March 28, 2003 the HIA, several hemp food and cosmetic
manufacturers and the Organic Consumers Association petitioned the
Ninth Circuit to once again prevent the DEA from ending the legal
sale of hemp seed and oil products in the U.S. and on April 16,
2003, the Ninth Circuit again issued a Stay.

North American hemp food companies voluntarily observe reasonable
THC limits similar to those adopted by European nations as well as
Canada and Australia. These limits protect consumers with a wide
margin of safety from any psychoactive effects or workplace
drug-testing interference (see hemp industry standards regarding
trace THC at http://www.testpledge.com ). The DEA has hypocritically
not targeted food manufacturers for using poppy seeds (in bagels and
muffins, for example) even though they contain far higher levels of
trace opiates. The recently revived global hemp market is a thriving
commercial success. Unfortunately, because the DEA's Drug War
paranoia has confused non-psychoactive industrial hemp varieties of
cannabis with psychoactive "marihuana" varieties, the U.S. is the
only major industrialized nation to prohibit the growing of
industrial hemp.

Please visit http://www.VoteHemp.com to read scientific studies of hemp
foods and see court documents.