DON'T HEMP ME IN

Hands Off Those Hemp Chips--The DEA Has Declared Them Illegal

FROZEN WAFFLES are the latest targets of the War on Drugs.

This news may come as a surprise to consumers, unless of course
they've read pages 51,539 through 51,544 in the Federal Register.

The Drug Enforcement Agency now views a variety of hemp food products
containing trace amounts of tetrahydrocannabinols--or THC--as Schedule
I narcotics: in other words the same as heroin, under the Controlled
Substances Act.

The newly outlawed foods are all commonly available at local health
food stores and include veggie burgers, pretzels, salad oil, beer,
cheese, chips, soda--in short, any food that contains hemp seed as an
ingredient.

The official hatchet fell on Oct. 9, 2001, when the DEA announced that
"anyone who has purchased a food or beverage product that contains THC
has 120 days (until Feb. 6, 2002) to dispose of the product without
penalty under federal law."

The DEA claims that THC causes a "psychoactive effect or 'high.'" But
while the cannabis varieties used for producing reefer can have as
much as 30 percent THC, hemp food products are made from industrial
hemp that generally has less than 1 percent THC--not nearly enough to
cause a high.

Those waffles may contain trace amounts of THC because "there's no
such thing as a zero in nature," says John Roulac, president of
Nutiva, a Sebastopol manufacturer of hemp bars, chips and seeds. "For
instance, orange juice has minute traces of alcohol, but we don't ban
orange juice for children. There's also no such thing as zero arsenic
in water."

Roulac says that smoking the marijuana portion of the industrial hemp
plant results in a headache, not a high. He also notes that hemp used
for food is subject to a cleansing process and that the amount of THC
remaining afterward is infinitesimal, no more than say, the amount of
opiates in a poppy seed bagel. Unlike the Canadian government, the
United States has no official system for measuring levels of THC in
foods. However, according to Canadian protocol, the hemp foods such as
those manufactured by Nutiva contain no THC.

Just as poppy seeds are exempt from laws governing heroin, Congress
exempted hemp products from substance abuse laws when it made
marijuana illegal in 1937. However, the DEA announced last October
what is known as its "interpretive rule" in regards to hemp, saying
that the agency is interpreting and enforcing an existing rule and
therefore free from formal rule-making procedures. Through this
interpretation, nonfood items such as shampoo, lotions, twine and
clothing can remain on the market--at least for now.

So, should consumers thaw out their waffles and dump the hemp-seed
salad dressing down the drain, for fear of a DEA-initiated food raid?

DEA spokesperson Rogene Waite was vague about how the agency would
enforce the rule and what the penalties might be, deferring all
questions to the DEA's website instead.

"As a law enforcement organization, we never talk about how we enforce
things. We would never discuss our plans," she said.

David Bronner, president of Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps and chairman of
the Hemp Industries Association's food and oil committee, was more
forthcoming.

He called the ruling "drug war paranoia," adding that it exhibited "an
unbelievable arrogance on the DEA's part that they can override
congressional exemption."

But for many government officials, the relationship between hemp food
products and pot is troubling. According to DEA boss Asa Hutchinson, a
former GOP congressman from Arkansas, "Many Americans do not know that
hemp and marijuana are both parts of the same plant and that hemp
cannot be produced without producing marijuana."

Rep. Sam Farr (D-Santa Cruz) is crooning the same tune as pretzel
prohibitor Hutchinson. Farr said he too is opposed to all hemp food,
including pretzels and soda, "since they all contain a small amount of
THC and since THC is an illegal drug."

Hip Hemp Hooray

Santa Cruz shoppers proved to have a different take than their
appointed and elected officials.

"There is a distinction between hemp and marijuana," said Food Bin
shopper David Bolam recently as he browsed the store's dairy case.
"It's amazing to me that a regulatory body would not be clear on that
distinction. I can only guess what their ulterior motives might be."

"Ludicrous," said shopper Mariposa Berstein, perusing Food Bin's
produce aisle. "I think it's crazy. I'm a licensed acupuncturist and
hemp seeds have been in our pharmacopoeia for thousands of years."

"It's absurd," agreed Herby Edwards Jr., another Food Bin patron. "The
bottom line is that hemp could feed and clothe the world."

The Food Bin on Mission Street stocks hemp products including Hempola
Not-So-Traditional Caesar Salad dressing. Dario Dickinson, the store's
general manager, maintains that the only risk that products like hemp
seed pretzels have--provided you chew them more carefully than George
W. did recently--is that you might turn into a health-food junkie.

"We believe strongly that the hemp seed is one of nature's most
important nutritional gifts to humans. The hemp seed is high in Omega
3 and Omega 6 essential fatty acids," Dickinson said. "We are
extremely disappointed with the government ruling. We think it's
completely outrageous to take this food away from the people."

According to nutrition guru and popular author Dr. Andrew Weil, hemp
oil's essential fatty acids boost the immune system, reduce the risk
of heart attacks, promote healthy skin, hair and nails, and are useful
in treating arthritis and other inflammatory and autoimmune disorders.
Advocates also say that hemp is second only to soybeans as a complete
protein yet is more easily digestible than soy.

However healthy hemp may be, the Family Values Council, an
ultra-conservative D.C.-based advocacy group, believes the products
send an unhealthy, pro-drug message to children and indicate a trend
toward drug legalization. The FVC, along with some who claim that
ingesting hemp food products has caused them to test positive for
drugs, impelled the DEA's mandate. But Roulac doesn't think that the
ban has any connection with "the usual suspects" in Big Business who
might feel threatened by the growth of industrial hemp.

"The only buzz I get from eating hemp products is a political uplift,"
said Bob Lamonica, producer of Santa Cruz's Hemp Expo and an avid
muncher of hemp chips. "It's a patent absurdity and an utter shame
that this has gotten this far just as hemp foods were starting to show
shelf space."

Hemp foods, currently a $5 million a year industry, have the potential
to become the next biggest things since soy milk and tofu, Roulac said.

Food Fight

New Leaf Community Markets, Santa Cruz's largest health food store
chain, did about $13,000 in sales in 2001 of hemp oil supplement and
munchies like cookies, bars and chips, according to pricing
coordinator Michael Murray. Its bestselling hemp item is Nature's Path
Hemp Plus Granola.

Murray said that New Leaf's distributor, Mountain Peoples Warehouse,
has already started to remove the items from its catalog and pull
products from the shelves.

Hemp food manufacturers and retailers say the DEA did not contact them
about the policy change.

"This was under the radar," said Sarah Miles, New Leaf's marketing
director. "As a retailer, I'm not very well informed about this, and
the more I learn the more confused I get. We certainly didn't get a
letter from the DEA or anyone else telling us not to carry hemp products."

Miles said the lack of information was frustrating for New Leaf
because it likes to think of itself as a place where customers can go
to educate themselves about health food issues. She said the store is
scrambling for information to pass on to confused shoppers searching
in vain for items like Spectrum hemp seed oil supplement.

At Staff of Life on Water Street, general manager Rich Seibert said
his store just stocked up on items such as Nutiva's ground hemp seeds
and HempNut's butter (an alternative peanut butter) and hemp vegan
cheese.

"Since they haven't made it clear to us what the law is, we are going
to continue to sell them," said Seibert.

Roulac tried to look on the bright side.

"In a kind of a bizarre way the DEA is helping our industry," he said,
citing how the media coverage of the conflict has increased awareness
about hemp. "It's turning out to be a blessing of the harassment."

"This will really define whether there is a demand for hemp products
or not," said Miles. "If there isn't, they will just disappear."

Meanwhile, Dr. Bronner's deep sudsy pockets are providing much of the
funding for the hemp industry's legal battle against the DEA. The Hemp
Industries Association has filed a lawsuit in the 9th District Court
of Appeals in San Francisco.

And Kenex Ltd. of Canada, the largest exporter of hemp seeds to the
United States, is seeking $20 million in compensation under the North
America Free Trade Agreement due to the DEA's action.

"If they lose they'll be in really deep shit if they go around seizing
products," said Bronner. "Certainly as far as various crises for real
drug abuse going on, it's amazing the DEA is devoting funds and
resources to outlawing hemp seed and oil."