CANADA'S KENEX SUES U.S. OVER PLANNED HEMP BAN

CHATHAM, Ontario -- A Canadian hemp producer filed suit against the U.S.
government over a planned ban of hemp food products.

Kenex Ltd., based in Chatham, Ontario, sued the U.S. under the North
American Free Trade Agreement, alleging the U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration will prevent Kenex from accessing U.S. markets for the
company's hemp food products.

The DEA last October ruled that any hemp foods containing
tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, is
illegal under the Controlled Substances Act, and must be out of stores by
Feb. 6. Kenex is seeking compensation of $20 million, based on its
estimated losses.

Hemp foods and other products are made from plants that don't contain
enough active ingredient to produce a drug effect, said a hemp advocacy
group spokesman. "You might get a headache, but you're not going to get
high" from smoking the hemp, said Adam Eidinger, a spokesman for
VoteHemp.com, a hemp advocacy group.

The DEA is "in total denial" and believes that any trace amount of THC
ought to be outlawed even though a person regularly ingesting hemp food
products would still pass a drug test, he said. DEA officials didn't return
phone calls. "Kenex has suffered previously at the hands of DEA's myopic
and absurd refusal to distinguish between industrial hemp and drug
varieties of cannabis," Kenex said in a statement.

Hemp foods, including pretzels, tortilla chips, energy bars and waffles,
are a $7 million industry in the U.S., and the broader hemp industry
including such items as clothing and paper amounts to $40 million a year,
the industry estimated.