PROTESTERS SAY HEMP IS FOOD NOT DRUGS

OAKLAND -- About 20 activists, many from Berkeley, gathered outside the
Federal Building Tuesday afternoon to protest an Oct. 9 ruling by the
federal government's Drug Enforcement Agency that declared all foods made
with hemp illegal.

The protest was part of a national "day of action," with protests across
the country, organized by Vote Hemp and Students for Sensible Drug Policy,
a pair of advocacy groups.

Activists labeled the DEA ruling "ridiculous," arguing that hemp, a
portion of the cannabis plant that also produces marijuana, is safe,
healthy, and contains only trace amounts of tetrahydrocannabinols (THC),
the psychoactive chemical in marijuana that creates the drug's high.

"It's really healthy, it tastes good, and it doesn't get you high," said
Rebecca Saltzman, 19, a UC Berkeley student and member of Students for
Sensible Drug Policy.

Activists said the ruling is crippling a growing, multi-million dollar hemp
food industry that launched, in earnest, in 1998.

Will Glaspy, spokesperson for the DEA, said the agency issued the ruling to
clear up confusion around the legality of hemp food products.

The misunderstanding is rooted in the definition of marijuana in the
Controlled Substances Act of 1970. On the one hand, the language exempts
fibers, oils and cakes derived from cannabis, " in other words, food
products made from the "hemp part of the plant" but on the other hand,
the definition classifies, as a controlled substance, "any material,
compound, mixture, or preparation, which contains any quantity of...THC."

In its ruling, the DEA argued that Congress exempted certain food products
because it believed they did not contain any THC. Now, the agency says, it
is clear that food products with hemp include some amount of THC, and that
the language in the Controlled Substances Act declaring any product with
THC a controlled substance should win the day.

Patrick Goggin, lawyer for the Hemp Industries Association, an industry
group that is filing for an emergency stay of the DEA ruling in the Federal
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, finds fault with the DEA's
logic.

Goggin argues that the Controlled Substance Act makes very clear exemptions
for the use of hemp in food products, and that the new regulation is
arbitrary, since the federal government allows for trace amounts of opiates
in the poppy seeds on bagels and other foods.

Goggin said he expects the court to rule on the emergency stay in the next
couple of weeks. If the stay is granted, the court would temporarily
suspend the DEA rule while it decides on the rule's legality.

Yesterday, activists outside the Federal Building said the DEA ruling is
simply a slap in the face of the larger movement to legalize marijuana.

"Hemp is used in food products that have no drug content," said Don
Duncan of Berkeley Patients Group, a local dispenser of medical marijuana.
"(The ruling) seems to be making a misguided, symbolic gesture by banning it."

John Roulac, president and founder of Nutiva, a Sonoma County hemp food
company that produces health bars and tortilla chips, said the DEA ruling
has scared off several retailers and customers, leading to a roughly 35
percent decline in Nutiva sales.

"One day we were selling our products and the next day it was illegal,"
said Roulac, who was in Washington, D.C. yesterday for a protest outside
the DEA's offices.

Jolyn Warford, Regional Marketing Coordinator for Whole Foods, which
maintains a natural foods store in Berkeley, said the company "will be
complying with the regulations put forth by the Drug Enforcement Agency."

Whole Foods will sell the remaining hemp food nutrition bars on its
shelves, Warford said, falling in line with a 120-day grace period for
disposing of hemp food inventory allowed by the DEA. After that, she said,
Whole Foods will stop stocking hemp food products.

Officials at Wild Oats, another natural food chain with a store in
Berkeley, could not be reached by the Daily Planet's deadline. But, Larry
Valle, grocery manager at the Berkeley Wild Oats, said he will continue
stocking hemp food products until his home office tells him otherwise.

Activists said hemp contains an optimum balance of essential fatty acids a
" a series of healthy fats a " and is the second-highest source of
vegetable protein on the market, trailing only soy.

The DEA's ruling does not effect hemp products like clothing and bird seed
that are not consumed by humans.