Feds Back Down on Ban of Hemp Seed & Oil in Natural & Organic Foods

September 28, 2004
CONTACT: Adam Eidinger
202-744-2671
Hemp Food Final Victory!
Bush Administration Will Not Appeal to Supreme Court; Legal Limbo Ends

WASHINGTON, DC ­ The Bush Administration will not appeal the Ninth Circuit
Court of Appeals February 6, 2004 decision in HIA v. DEA protecting sale and
consumption of hemp food products in the U.S. The allotted time to appeal
to the Supreme Court expired today three years after the Drug Enforcement
Administration (DEA) issued a rule purporting to ban hemp food products.
³The mandate of the Ninth Circuit is final and their decision will now be
the law of the land,² said Joseph Sandler, lead attorney for the Hemp
Industries Association (HIA).

³Removing the cloud the DEA put into the marketplace will spur a dramatic
surge in the supply and consumption of healthy omega-3 rich hemp seed in
America,² says David Bronner, Chair of the HIA¹s Food and Oil Committee and
President of Alpsnack/Dr. Bronner¹s Magic Soaps. ³This is a huge victory
for the hemp industry. The Bush Administration decision not to appeal the
Ninth Circuit¹s decision from earlier this year means the three-year-old
legal battle over hemp seed products is finally over. The three-judge panel
in the Ninth Circuit unanimously ruled that the DEA ignored the specific
Congressional exemption in the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) that excludes
hemp fiber, seed and oil from control along with poppy seeds. The Court
viewed as insignificant and irrelevant harmless trace amounts of THC in hemp
seed, just like harmless trace amounts of opiates in poppy seeds.²

³More and more health foods containing omega-3 rich hemp nut and oil will be
appearing on store shelves since the legal status is no longer an issue,²
says Alexis Baden-Mayer, Director of Government Affairs for Vote Hemp.
³Americans are looking for healthy alternative sources of omega-3 to
supplement their diets due to concerns regarding trace mercury in fish and
fish oil supplements. Right now the U.S. marketplace is supplied by hemp
seed grown and processed in Canada and Europe. We will now work to convince
Congress it is time for the U.S. to again allow American farmers to grow
industrial hemp and participate in this lucrative growth market.²

Eric Steenstra, Executive Director of Vote Hemp, along with Patrick Goggin,
local counsel for the HIA, expressed anger at the colossal waste of industry
and taxpayer resources consumed in the three-year legal battle over hemp
waffles and other healthy hemp foods. ³The industry should have been
focused on marketplace promotion and consumer education rather than flushing
over $200,000 down the drain battling pointless DEA hysteria,² says
Steenstra.

Hemp Foods are Safe and Nutritious - DEA Rules Were Ridiculous!
Hemp seed is one of the most perfect nutritional resources in all of nature.
In addition to its excellent flavor profile, the seed meat protein supplies
all essential amino acids in an easily digestible form and with a high
protein efficiency ratio. But most importantly, hemp seed and oil offer high
concentrations of the two essential fatty acids (EFAs) in a perfect ratio of
the omega-3/omega-6 acids. EFA's are the "good fats" that doctors recommend
as part of a healthy, balanced diet. This superior nutritional profile
makes hemp nut (shelled seed) and oil ideal for a wide range of functional
food applications and as an effective fatty acid supplement. Not
surprisingly, hemp nut and oil are increasingly used in natural food
products, such as breads, frozen waffles, cereals, nutrition bars, meatless
burgers and salad dressings.

Eating Hemp Food Does Not Interfere with Workplace Drug-Tests
U.S. hemp food companies voluntarily observe reasonable THC limits similar
to those adopted by European nations and Canada. These limits protect
consumers with a wide margin of safety from workplace drug-testing
interference (see hemp industry standards regarding trace THC at
http://www.testpledge.com <http://www.testpledge.com> ). The DEA has
hypocritically not targeted food manufacturers for using poppy seeds (in
bagels and muffins, for example) even though they contain far higher levels
of trace opiates. The recently revived global hemp market is a thriving
commercial success. Unfortunately, because of their paranoia DEA has
confused non-psychoactive industrial hemp varieties of cannabis with
psychoactive varieties, and thus the U.S. is the only major industrialized
nation to prohibit the growing of industrial hemp.

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For more information or to arrange interviews with representatives of the
hemp industry,
Please call Adam Eidinger at 202-744-2671