Posted on 10/15/2001 9:04:33 AM PDT by MadameAxe
This week, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration banned all food manufactured with hemp grain, delivering a shocking blow to consumers and producers of hemp foods. According to DEA notices published in the Federal Register on October 9, 2001, any product that contains any amount of THC is, and always has been, a Schedule I controlled substance.
The DEA published this notice as an "interpretive rule", not as a new rule, thereby bypassing the usual requirement for public notice and comment. The DEA is stating that hemp food products have always been illegal and that they are just clarifying that fact with this new interpretive rule. The DEA justifies their decision only by saying that it is to "protect the public health and safety", but the DEA does not provide any evidence that THC in any amount is harmful.
"For the first time in U.S. history, the federal government is outlawing a whole class of food products", says Kathleen Chippi, co-founder of the Boulder Hemp Company, who was forced to suspend business last year when investors became nervous about rumors that the DEA was going to outlaw hemp. "It's the same as if the DEA outlawed wheat or corn."
Hemp grain, while not as commonplace as other grains, is touted by health food experts as being "the most nutritionally complete seed on the planet for human consumption."
THC may appear in trace amounts in some products made with hemp grain, just as opiates may appear in trace amounts in poppy seeds. Hemp food has been produced and safely consumed in the U.S. since the founding of the country and has been used worldwide for over 10,000 years without any adverse health effects ever.
The DEA notice in the Federal Register states that it is illegal to consume "any food or beverage (such as pasta, tortilla chips, candy bars, nutritional bars, salad dressings, sauces, cheese, ice cream, and beer) or dietary supplement". Consumers and hemp food manufacturers have until Feb. 6, 2002 to destroy any hemp food products they currently possess.
EXEMPTIONS: The DEA does exempt hemp products that "do not cause THC to enter the human body", such as paper, cloth, and rope. Sterilized seed remains legal for birds, but not humans. Sterilized seed will be exempt only if it is intended for bird seed and combined with some other seed or material that is "not derived from the cannabis plant". Raw hemp fiber is legal, but (strangely) unprocessed hemp stalks are illegal.
Personal care products, such as lotions, soap, shampoo, and lip balm are legal for now, while the DEA searches for evidence that these products can cause trace amounts of THC to enter the body.
There have been rumors for over a year that the DEA was going to ban hemp products. It's unfortunate for citizens that they chose to do this now, while the entire country is focused on terrorist attacks and the war in Afghanistan. You'd think they'd have more urgent things to do right now, like protecting us from bioterrorism, but such is the absurdity of our federal government and its War on Drugs.
This article from the Colorado Hemp Initiative Project. Edited for publication by Sierra Times.com
No. It's wrong to twist and turn the Constitution so that it protects the bestiality of the few, to the detriment of the many.
The Constitution was formed not only to protect RIGHTS, but to protect RIGHT.
Actually, sin is EVERYONE'S problem.
This thread died out. Drung addicted people here in America will laugh at this: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/fr/550757/posts
There is a real war now. For the first time.
Be well and stay sober.
What's "twisted and turned" about the following argument?
The Constitution does not explicitly grant the federal government the power to ban drugs (although it does grant the federal government the power to "regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several States"), so by the Ninth and Tenth Amendments the federal government has no such general power (although it may ban the import, export, and/or interstate shipment of drugs)---and in particular, the federal government has no power to ban the intrastate making, distributing, possessing, or consuming of drugs.
And I never got my answer to this post to you---or this one or this one or this one. Coward.
Stop the war on (some) candy bars!
Why are government resources still going towards this when there are TERRORISTS AMONG US!? WTF is wrong with people? Christ, even if you want to resume it later, fine, but at this time shouldn't every law enforcement person's priority be terrorists over pot smokers?
Anthrax is being mailed throughout the country. THOUSANDS of civilians were murdered horrifically. Is anyone still concerned about their neighbor getting high or are you more concerned with terrorists running around with biological agents? Let's have some fricking perspective here.
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