Reports for Arlington, Burlington, Chicago, Columbus and Detroit are below.

For Dover, Houston, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Madison, Miami, Milwaukee and Minneapolis at http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n000/a236.html

And New York, Oakland, Orlando, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Richmond, Sacramento, St. Louis, Seattle, Springfield, Toronto and Tucson (8th) at http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n000/a235.html

AFTER ACTION REPORTS: CHALLENGE THE DEA, 4 DEC 2001

ARLINGTON, VA

Great job, everyone!

In Arlington, VA, at the national DEA headquarters, hemp industry
representatives, John Roulac, founder and president of Nutiva, David
Bronner, President of Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps, and Eric Steenstra,
President of VoteHemp.com, were joined by drug policy reformers (and
hemp enthusiasts!) from the Drug Reform Coordination Network, the
Marijuana Policy Project, Students for Sensible Drug Policy, and
Common Sense for Drug Policy, and members of the Libertarian and Green
Parties.

We were initially met with resistance from the building security staff
which deployed a ring of cops and barricades around the building and
forbade us to set foot on the property (which they insisted included
the sidewalk and the curb). After setting up shop in the street by a
traffic light, the local police came and negotiated a spot for us on
the sidewalk.

It was a gorgeous sunny warm blue sky day, just like the end of
summer. A perfect kind of day for a picket/picnic!

There was a good deal of foot traffic, DEA employees, and other
working people on their lunch breaks. It was easy to tell the DEAs
from people who aren't paid to believe that banning hemp is an
acceptable use of law enforcement resources. Most of the DEAs walked
swiftly by, pretending to have no interest in the free food or why we
were there. Some claimed to have no knowledge of the rules regulating
hemp. Other said they knew everything about the subject but refused
to comment on it. One DEA employee who was innocently enjoying her
hemp bar, while learning about the myriad food uses of the hemp plant,
was chastised by a fellow employee screaming from her car, "Don't eat
that food! You're not allowed to talk to them!" More honest than most,
but probably expressing a common internal monologue, one DEA employee,
at refused the offer of a hemp bar by saying that he was going to wait
until old age before he tried what he'd been missing all these years:
"I know I'm going to regret I didn't do it forty years earlier!" We
had to explain that he'd have to go somewhere other than his local
health food store to get what he was talking about.

In contrast to the DEAs, the average person was thrilled to receive
the free hemp bars, candies, salted hempseeds, chips (with salsa and
guacamole), hot soft Hempzles, pasta salad, poppy seed bagels, and
orange juice. They participated happily in the taste test, were eager
to learn about the nutritional value of hemp, and were interested in
sending comments to the DEA.

Our Taste Test was well documented by the DC Independent Media Center
(video) and Doug McVay of Common Sense for Drug Policy (photos). The
IMC is making a newsreel on the event that will be shown in a couple
of weeks at an IMC film showing, and will be posted on the
dc.indymedia.org site.

There was a decent media presence. The local ABC affiliate, Channel
7, and a CNN cameraman filmed the event. There were reporters from
the City Paper, High Times,

So how were your events? Were they documented? Did the media show? Did
you get lots of comment cards filled out?

The VoteHemp.com folks are really impressed that you were able to pull
off these taste tests with so little time and with so little
assistance. We hope you'll stick with us as we continue to fight for
access to nutritious and delicious hemp food in the face of the DEA's
outrageous and unreasonable regulation. As you know, the period for
public comment to the DEA ends December 10th. We're currently in
federal court seeking an injunction against implementation of the new
rule, but February 6th is the date enforcement could begin.

Now is a critical moment for public education. Most people in America
don't even know what hemp is, let alone how the DEA treats it, but
right now we still have the opportunity to organize resistance and
stop the DEA's attempts to crush a burgeoning natural foods industry.

I look forward to hearing the details of all the Taste Tests. Please
keep in touch.

Alexis Baden-Mayer for VoteHemp.com

BURLINGTON, VT

Greetings--An unseasonably warm December day provided a cheery setting
for the DEA Challenge Taste Test in Burlington. I set up a table in
front of the Peace and Justice Center on Church Street, and I quickly
drew up two signs, which I hung prominently. I had received two
cartons of Ruth's hempseed snacks (thank you so much), which I
displayed along with many VoteHemp fliers. I also bought some hemp
granola from the Onion River co-op, which I gave away and literally
had people eating out of my hand. I wore a hemp shirt to provide an
extra conversation piece.

Most passersby were for the most part unaware of hemp as a food
product, and certainly of the industry's current peril. Their delight
at tasting hemp granola for the first time mostly turned to disgust
when they learned that it was now illegal due to a DEA interpretive
rule. Citizens in Vermont are aware of rules, as our state government
agencies are fond of them, but I digress!

I received many choice comments about the repressive nature of our
Federal Government (I am understating this). I collected 12
comments--many more people said they would respond on-line and would
get involved that way.

My feeling is that we have a lot of support here if we can find a way
to get our message to the people. I encouraged people to save family
farms, keep open land open in Vermont, and give farmers ideas and
markets to succeed. So far, industrial hemp is the best idea going.
There was not one disagreement with this. Vermont has a history of
hemp cultivation, with one of the earliest Fairbanks scales (Fairbanks
being a famous name in these parts) developed to weigh hemp.

Media turnout to cover the event was underwhelming, but Channel 5 TV,
a local station, did show up and shoot considerable footage and an
interview with yours truly and some passersby trying the taste test
challenge. I stuck around for the 6 o'clock news. The site was
featured in a lead-in, with a shot of my hands holding a Ruth's
hempseed bar and a cut to my hand-lettered sign where I had written
"Taste so good--it must be illegal." The audio portion said something
like "a brand new proposal about something most people don't know
anything about." The broadcast never ran the segment, unfortunately.
I'm assuming (but who knows) that they were referring to VoteHemp's
attempt to encourage the DEA to suspend the current interpretive rule
and write a new rule bringing public hearings into the process, which
I talked about on camera. It's possible that I made the 11 o'clock
news, but I didn't have time to stick around to find out, and I don't
get Channel 5 at my home. The top story of the night on their
broadcast, however, was an international business agreement signed
with the bordering areas of the USA and Canada--roughly Burlington to
Montreal. The news crew seemed particularly interested in the
Canadian point of manufacture on Ruth's Hempseed products.

The Burlington Free Press, a Gannett newspaper, didn't show up--their
offices are about a 30-second walk from the Peace and Justice Center.
The Managing Editor, who I spoke to briefly, was concerned that it
wasn't a newsworthy story. I had sent out many press releases
concerning the taste test to local media.

After I tore down my site, I walked around to a couple of the local
hemp fiber sellers and encouraged them to get involved. If the DEA
gets away with this action on food products, what's to keep them from
targeting body care and fiber next? All things considered, we gained
some supporters, and they promised to spread the word. We need to
take this momentum and turn it into a steamroller. I plan to stay
involved--hemp is a great crop for Vermont, and the people here will
support agriculture big time as long as it's presented positively. I
think the Taste Test Challenge accomplished this.

Sam Creigh

CHICAGO, IL

We had fun in Chicago....we set up shop just outside the main doors to
the federal building downtown, and proceeded to give away lots of
"free delicious and nutrious organic health foods" - but the hemp milk
didn't go over so well. At first the federal marshals (or whomever
they were) weren't going to let us protest outside the building on
their property, but I informed him that we weren't protesters, we were
simply giving away free food. He seemed confused, and allowed us to
set up shop, "out of the direct flow of foot traffic." Then he gladly
accepted a hemp nut bar and had an early lunch

Our only real problem is that we were not allowed to collect
signatures, even if we didn't solicit for them. I had plenty of
Xeroxed signature sheets that we gave out with every free sample. I
was even chastised by a quite enthusiastic recipient of our generosity
for not using hemp paper. I was forced to hang my head in shame.
Most people seemed truly disturbed by the DEA's "audacity," and they
seemed more than willing to do something about it. Success!

The only media presence was the school newspaper, which is doing a
rather large spread on it tonight. We did get to meet federal
employees who invited us to come and speak at some of their
extracurricular goings-on, which we gladly accepted.

"We" were SSDP, November Coalition, Illinois NORML, and the Illinois
Drug Policy Group.

Our "Spot the Narc" game was concluded when a passer-by exclaimed,
"That's not health food...I know EXACTLY what that is!" when he was
offered a hemp nut snack bar.

Aside from the fact that 3 boxes of food were sitting on my doorstep
after I got home from the protest, everything went pretty smoothly.
We're planning on tabling tomorrow at school - and actually collect
some signatures.

As an interesting note, the journalist that came with us inadvertently
asked the marijuana policy director of the local DEA where the DEA
offices were, and he pointed to the building we were at. She set up
an interview with him, and went up to talk to him. Halfway through
(or a few minutes into) he was pulled out by 2 suspicious looking men,
then returned shortly and told her that the conversation never
happened and the DEA's views on this issue can be found from the
following resources (handed her something). She's on our side, so
according to her, the conversation did happen, and she's going to tell
us all about it shortly.

....and that's the rest of the story.

-Matt

-- 2d report:

I arrived a little late for the edible hemp action at the federal
building in downtown Chicago on Dec. 4. Looking around the building's
main entrance, I spotted someone holding boxes of hemp food products.
It was Matt Atwood of Student for Sensible Drug Policy at Loyola
University. Matt organized the Chicago event.

He told me he had already been up to the 12th floor of the building,
where the DEA has an office, and noticed several drawbacks to setting
up there. So we found a spot near the entrance of the building, opened
the boxes of hemp food and started offering it to people entering and
leaving the building. We also requested signatures, and that drew the
attention of a security guard. He told us that collecting signatures
in the space constituted soliciting, and was not allowed. So we just
handed out different varieties of hemp bars and glasses of hemp milk
along with literature about hemp food and the DEA action. Though the
security guard initially refused a hemp bar, he later broke down and
requested one.

Four of us (another Loyola student and a November Coalition member who
drove all the way from Indiana) handed out tasty treats. A reporter
from the student newspaper at Loyola University observed, photographed
and conducted interviews. She twice went up to the DEA offices for an
interview to get their side of the story - what she described instead
sounded more like the runaround.

I spoke to only one person who identified themselves as a DEA
employee. She was polite, but declined the hemp food, saying something
about "the chain of command" as she walked toward the building to
return to work. Everyone else was very supportive. Many had some
knowledge of hemp. Most expressed disapproval for the DEA ban on hemp
food, but few seemed surprised. Many said they would go to the
VoteHemp.com website or contact the DEA by mail or fax.

I hope to get a hold of the Loyola reporter's story sometime to see if
the DEA found anything to say for themselves. Not much, I suspect.

P.S. I understand the story in the Loyola newspaper should be posted
via web sometime soon. I will send out link when I find one.

Steve Young, DPF Illinois http://www.drugsense.org/dpfil/

-- 3rd Report

I met Matt, Katie, and Steve of the SSDP at the DEA office in downtown
Chicago at noon. They had boxes of hemp granola bars, bags of nuts,
chocolate bars, and even hemp milk. All of the snack-type foods went
quickly, but the hemp milk did not go over well. Some tried it. We
handed out copies to sign and send into the DEA, because the officers
there would not let us collect signatures. Otherwise, the Federal
police that were there were calm and even took a hemp bar, but
wouldn't take a copy of the signature sheet to sign. It was a very
busy site with hundreds of people passing by and coming and going from
the Federal buildings. Most people were very receptive to a free snack
bar and most all were not aware of the new DEA law and thought it was
ridiculous. I talked to several DEA people and one stood and talked
for awhile, took a snack bar, and was pretty polite, but most DEA
employees didn't stop or just snickered when they went by. It didn't
take long to pass out all the inventory....

Overall, I thought that this was a wonderful idea and worked out well.
I was also glad to meet some students from the SSDP and exchange
information for the future. Alexis and all the leadership of the
groups that worked on this did a great job. Much applause!! More of
these types of events that speak to everyday people would be in all
our best interests.

Susan Bobby, November Coalition (Indiana)

COLUMBUS, OH

Hello everyone!

Ohio University and Ohio State University SSDP joined Ohio Drug Policy
Education, For a Better Ohio and other organizations to protest the
DEA in Columbus last night.

The DEA workers slipped out the back door to avoid confrontation, and
it was difficult to get people to stop and taste the delicious hemp
snacks and milk.

There was a great vibe at the gathering; reformers came equipped with
drums, flutes and maracas. Around 30 activists chanted and cheered.
The protest began around 5:00 and it was unseasonably warm last evening.

Peace, Abby Bair, Ohio University SSDP

-- 2nd Report:

32 people gathered in front of the DEA office, awaited by security. We
attempted to set up the food distribution table close to the entrance,
but were asked to go away. The table was then voluntarily moved to the
sidewalk. The hemp food education-taste test project began at 5pm
rather than noon, due to many key student activists taking finals. The
office closed at 530pm, so we expected to educate many DEA employees.
About 12 people from the building where the DEA office resides
scurried in avoidance, but were catched and given educational
votehemp.com and SSDP promotional hemp seed literature, mostly
accepted. The majority of food offers were turned down by these
people. The rest of the DEA must have slipped out the back or their
secret exit. Passer bys got turned on, and about 30 cars honked. 2
radio stations came, but no television (rare).

The Columbus Alive(weekly) and the Free Press (community staple) are
running stories. Don Wirtshafter, founder of the Ohio Hempery and
pioneer of the Hemp Industry was able to make it to do the radio
interviews and provided a Q&A teach in for the many concerned
activists surrounding and supporting him with the triumph felt.

Many at the rally were unaware about the status of the Dec. 10th date,
thinking that this was the date that the ban is effective without a
comment period, when in fact Oct. 9th was the date of the ban and
there is a comment period. Local leaders felt that they could have
been a bit more effective, sitting on the knowledge that something
would happen soon as of Oct. 9th, only to get the national action
alert over Thanksgiving weekend, without detail.

A hugely circulated $194 ad was purchased prior said STOP the DEA'S
BAN OF HEMP FOODS (time, location), and votehemp.com.

Since votehemp.com is the primary source of the information followed
on this subject matter, perhaps clarification and urgency of a comment
period should be in order .

During the educational rally, one of the local organizers went to the
front of the entrance of the building where the DEA resides with a
fact poster and pretzels to see what was going on, and was poked in
the chest with a pointed finger by one of the security guards. The
guard yelled " you go away, the longer you stay here the longer I have
to be here. Do you want to be arrested? We can do that." The noble
activist asked "Do you know what this is about? This 12 oz bag of
pretzels is not a 12 oz. bag of marijuana." "I don't care", the guard
replied aggressively, as if his finger may turn to fist. Then the
drums, flutes, and tea kettles roared majestic harmony for a couple
hours, well after dark.

Abby Bair from OU-SSDP addressed the crowd and said "this is great, we
came up here all the way from Athens because Athens does not have a
DEA office. You are all great people, keep it up. Our justice will
prevail.

Kenneth Schweickart

DETROIT, MI

Keith and I got to the Federal building at about 11:30. It turns out
the building wasn't just the DEA office, but the Federal Courthouse and
office to many federal agencies. No matter, we got out our hemp foods
and fliers and handed them out to anyone interested. Keith and I split
up to the two different entrances, and gave out a bunch of food and
fliers.

There was a great deal of wariness about us. I think it was due in part
to the Sept. 11th tragedy, and in part to the fact that Detroiters are
generally more skeptical about things. Many people did a double take
when I told them that the food was actually free. :) I did get to talk
to a few people about the DEA hemp ban. I also happened to run into a
congresswomen walking into the building, gave her a hemp energy bar and
a flier, and she seemed very interested.

After about an hour, police came and told us we were not allowed to be
on the sidewalk. Keith and I both protested, saying we had the right to
be there and that we were breaking no laws, but they wouldn't relent.
When they pulled out hand cuffs and threatened to arrest us, we decided
it wasn't worth the trouble and left.

All in all, I think it was a worthwhile day. Keith and I were
discussing doing the same type of thing at the University. Perhaps on
the diag, or in residence halls or something. If we are giving out free
food, I think we will be much more popular.

-Jeff, U of M SSDP (and DanceSafe)