EAT HEMP FOR A HEALTHY HEART

Most people know the importance of eating a healthy, balanced diet of
fruits and vegetables, grains, meat and dairy products, but nowhere in the
four food groups is hemp mentioned. This is probably because hemp contains
cannabis, the illicit drug marijuana.

Hemp oil is a good source of highly unsaturated fatty acids, said Barbara
Klein, University professor emeritus of foods and nutrition. Unsaturated
fats are good for the heart and cardiovascular system, she said.

Though consumers of burgers made from shelled hempseeds are eating
healthier than consumers of traditional beef burgers, they aren't getting
the same euphoric high a marijuana smoker might get, said Richard Rose,
founder and president of HempNut, Inc. The company has produced hemp foods
free of THC, the psychoactive chemical in marijuana, for eight years. Rose
is also director of the Hemp Food Association. Despite the health benefits
of his THC-free hemp food products, Rose said his company's sales have
decreased 90 percent since October when the Drug Enforcement Agency
announced they would give stores and hemp food distributors a 120-day grace
period to stop producing and selling THC-containing hemp products. Earlier
this month, the Drug Enforcement Agency extended the deadline for product
removal to March 18.

Rose said his company's woes haven't come from the agency's recent
announcements, but misinformation spread by activists wanting to use this
incident to further their marijuana legalization ambitions. He also said
the agency wanted to clarify rules regarding sales of hemp products because
people who had tested positive for marijuana during workplace drug testing
were falsely claiming it was caused by eating hemp foods.

"The DEA is not the bad guy in this," Rose said.

Still, Rose said that after the agency's announcement, many health food
stores are wary of continuing the sale of hemp food products because they
are afraid the agency will raid their business and arrest them for selling
hemp products.

Jack Wallace, general manager of Strawberry Fields, 306 W. Springfield
Ave., Urbana, said his store has not received any notices from the agency
to remove products from their shelves. The store carries hemp-based lip
balm, shampoo, soap and a nutritional supplement derived from hemp oil.

Wallace said his store has not seen any notable sales losses from the
agency's ban on THC-containing hemp foods because they carry so few hemp
products.