BAN ON TRACE ELEMENTS OF HEMP IN FOOD

Federal drug agents are taking a potshot at the burgeoning popularity of
hemp-based energy bars, salad dressing and chips, ordering stores to strip
shelves of products that contain even trace amounts of psychoactive
ingredients by Feb. 6.

The hemp industry says that the new Drug Enforcement Administration rules
are killing the $5 million-a-year sales of hemp-based food products, and
are contrary to more than 60 years of government policy, which sought to
distinguish industrial hemp from marijuana.

"This is totally opposite policy,'' said Don Wirtshafter, founder of The
Hempery in Guysville, Ohio, which sells hemp food products, oil and clothing.

He said his company already has lost three major accounts because of the
DEA actions, and claimed the federal decision has dampened a flourishing
market for hemp foods, which began to flourish five years ago.

A DEA spokesman said the rule is only "more of a clarification" of existing
U.S. policies on hemp usage.

Under the rule, agricultural uses of hemp in birdseed and animal foods is
permitted, and hemp is allowed in clothing or rope.

But the DEA rule puts hemp for human consumption in a class of illegal
drugs that includes heroin and LSD if it is found to contain any amount of
tetrahydrocannabinols, or THC, the psychoactive ingredient of marijuana.

As an interpretation, the DEA said its rule on hemp for human consumption
went into effect when it was published in the Federal Register Oct. 6. But
the agency is giving health food stores and the industry "a grace period"
until Feb. 6 to remove the products from shelves, after which stocking the
products will be illegal.

In a statement issued with the rule, DEA Administrator Asa Hutchinson said
"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."

The industry says that removing trace amounts of THC from hemp products is
impossible, and noted the government allows bakeries to use poppy seeds
that have trace amounts of opium.

"There's no such thing as a zero standard - just look at the debate over
arsenic in water,'' said David Bonner, chairman of the Hemp Industry
Association's food and oil committee.

Bonner said that hemp used for food products - basically the stems and
seeds of the plants - are cultured from plants that have low levels of THC,
and most of that is washed away during processing. "There's no psychoactive
activity possible here," Bonner said.

Bonner, who owns a company selling hemp-based soap, said he's concerned his
business will be affected because the rule is so broadly written that the
DEA might try to show that humans are absorbing trace amounts of THC
through their skin.

The industry has asked a federal appeals court in San Francisco to stop the
DEA from enforcing the regulation pending a full hearing on the issue. The
court is expected to rule this month.

DEA has been involved in a long-running battle with the hemp industry for
several years. In 1991, the agency ordered the U.S. Customs Service to
confiscate 20 tons of birdseed imported from Canada because it was found to
contain trace amounts of THC. The DEA spokesman said the new rule clarifies
that sales of hemp products not consumed by humans are approved.

Former drug czar Barry McCaffrey also urged the DEA to ban hemp on grounds
that members of the U.S. military were contending at court-martial that
their positive urine tests for marijuana were caused after they ate
hemp-based foods. The industry says the government adjusts its testing
program to accept trace levels of opium caused by poppy seeds, and could do
the same for hemp.