HEMP BURNS OUT

For seven years, the hemp ice cream produced in Das Agua's shop,
Original Sources, made him a successful businessman. Today it makes
him a criminal.

Created with "milk" made from the ground seeds of industrial hemp --
marijuana's low-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) sister plant -- Agua's Hemp
I Scream may now be a controlled substance, thanks to an October 9
ruling by the Drug Enforcement Administration that deems illegal any
foods containing even a trace of THC, pot's psychoactive ingredient.

The ruling delivered a heavy hit to Original Sources and other
companies across the country that are active in the hemp-foods trade.
"That was the DEA's attack on our twin towers," Agua says. "It's a
terrorist attack on hemp, to try and frighten away the profitability
of this wonderful industry. Hemp foods are a great way for people to
be more healthy, more wholesome."

The hemp industry has grown steadily over the past decade, with
businesses making fuel, fabric, paper, even auto parts from hemp
imported into the U.S. Highly nutritious, sterilized hemp seeds --
cleansed of their outer skins, which may contain minuscule amounts of
THC -- are used for the production of hemp foods, from tortilla chips
and snack bars to flour, milk and baked goods. These seeds have been a
legal food source for decades, thanks to the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act
and numerous other federal rulings.

Although Agua and other hemp-food producers say their products
consistently test negative for THC, the DEA's new zero-tolerance
ruling creates problems. "In science, there is no such thing as zero
anymore," says John Roulac, spokesman for Nutiva, a California company
that's one of the nation's largest makers of hemp-based foods. "The
DEA needs to establish protocols and standards for testing."

Eric Steenstra, an attorney who heads up the legal team for Vote Hemp,
a collective of hemp-industry groups, agrees. "How many zeroes do you
measure down to?" he wonders. "The DEA has never specified. But they
have the ability to measure to an infinitesimal amount, and the cost
to test to their standards would be astronomical for our industry."

This is not the first time that DEA policy shifts have hammered hemp
foods. Two years ago, the Boulder Hemp Company was one of the nation's
fastest-growing hemp-foods makers, thanks to a line of popular
tortilla chips. That boom ended when the DEA seized a shipment of
Canadian-grown seeds containing trace amounts of THC and threatened
hemp-food makers with similar seizures of their source materials
("Hemp Takes a Hit," January 27, 2000 ). "I lost a good half-million
dollars of investment money that walked away because of the DEA,"
Kathleen Chippi, Boulder Hemp Company's owner, says today.

The DEA eventually released the seeds under pressure from the
Department of Justice, U.S. Customs and pro-hemp supporters.
(According to the seeds' producer, the Kenex Company of Canada, you
would have had to consume the entire truckload to catch a buzz.)
Still, Chippi put her operation on hold until the federal government
made a final ruling on the legal status of her business. "We're happy
that after two years, they've finally come to a conclusion," she says,
"but the conclusion they came to is insane. Hemp foods are basically
illegal in this country now."

The DEA is giving hemp-food makers 120 days to destroy any inventory
that is not in compliance with the new ruling. After February 6, any
producers and retailers caught with such foods will be considered in
possession of controlled substances.

"THC is a controlled substance; it is a drug," says DEA spokesman Will
Glaspy, "so foods containing controlled substances would be illegal."
The recent ruling was designed to "clear things up for some people,"
he adds, not as an attempt to change the status quo.

"Would you feel comfortable with kids eating candy bars with trace
amounts of heroin?" Glaspy asks. "I don't think anybody would."

Roulac doesn't put much stock in the DEA's argument. The government,
he notes, "is putting more arsenic in our water than they could ever
find of THC in our products. You're allowed parts per million of bug
parts in cereal." He suggests that the DEA's ruling has more to do
with staying in business than with protecting consumers, since illegal
hemp gives the DEA more to do and more money with which to do it.
"Industrial hemp for food has never been illegal in the United
States," Roulac says. "The DEA is attempting to change policy with no
due process, no hearings, no cooperation with the industry affected."

Last month, Vote Hemp filed suit in California's federal court,
requesting a stay of the DEA's ruling; that case is scheduled to be
heard in February 2002. According to Steenstra, the ruling violates
existing legal protections of hemp seeds and the foods made from them;
it also violates procedural requirements that call for congressional
hearings and public comment. Steenstra's team plans to push for a THC
testing standard and will argue whether hemp foods should be banned at
all.

In the meantime, Vote Hemp is asking supporters to take advantage of
the sixty-day public-comment window included in the DEA's ruling and
send their comments to the agency (dea.gov) by December 9. "One day
the products are legal, the next day they're not," Steenstra says. "If
DEA's mandate is to stop drugs from flowing into the United States,
what the hell are they doing chasing after a bunch of legitimate
companies offering a safe, highly nutritious product to the public?"

Chippi isn't waiting for an answer: She's decided to get out of the
hemp-foods business for good. One anticipated benefit: fewer unwanted
visitors at her home in the mountains west of Boulder. "Black unmarked
helicopters," she explains. "They come and hover 300 feet over my house."

And Agua, who peddled his first quarts of hemp ice cream to fans
attending a Grateful Dead show at McNichols Arena in 1994 ("I sold
everything I had in a snowstorm," he recalls), may move his business
from Colorado to Canada if hemp-industry leaders and the government
can't work out a settlement. "I'm considering the actions appropriate
for me," he says. "I'm hopeful things can get growing again."

But should his current line remain illegal, he's considering a new
product. "If all else fails," he says, "then we will make another
vegan treat: 'Should Be Hemp I Scream,' packaged with lots of hemp
information and a call to action."