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DEA Bans Hemp Products
The Sierra Times ^ | October 15, 2001 | Colorado Hemp Initiative Project

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


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Extended News; News/Current Events
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What will these idiots think of next? They should all be fired, but since we know that won't happen, they should be reassigned en masse to fight terrorism.
1 posted on 10/15/2001 9:04:33 AM PDT by MadameAxe (Madameaxe_@hotmail.com)
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To: MadameAxe
DEA bans wheat after wheat can be used to make alcohol and other drugs.
2 posted on 10/15/2001 9:07:14 AM PDT by lavaroise
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To: MadameAxe
WOD Warriors must be doing the whoopy dance right now.
3 posted on 10/15/2001 9:09:02 AM PDT by corkoman
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To: MadameAxe
Isn't THC produced by the brain to regulate the thyroid's functions? Will the DEA ban usage of my brain?
4 posted on 10/15/2001 9:09:21 AM PDT by lavaroise
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To: Wolfie; Storm Orphan; tex-oma
Pff!
5 posted on 10/15/2001 9:10:57 AM PDT by MadameAxe
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Comment #6 Removed by Moderator

To: MadameAxe
Actually, some contacts I have in Federal law enforcement have told me that the DEA guys have all been more or less reassigned to terrorist cases. Also, this latest affront by the DEA has gone too far, law enforcement doesn't interpret the meaning of a law, courts do.
7 posted on 10/15/2001 9:12:03 AM PDT by motexva
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To: MadameAxe
Wow, I had no idea we elected the DEA to pass new laws - "Stroke of the pen, law of the land, cool, huh?"
8 posted on 10/15/2001 9:12:22 AM PDT by Wolfie
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To: MadameAxe
Never mind that hemp is one of the most useful biomass fibers on earth and has been used as such for thousands of years. Never mind that trace amounts of just about anything can be found in just about anything if you place your limits of detection low enough.

The important thing is that sleazy drug agents, who are just the flip side of the same coin as the scum they are supposedly protecting us from, have more job security and more excuses to kick in people's doors in the middle of the night.

10 posted on 10/15/2001 9:12:33 AM PDT by Reelect President Dubya
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To: MadameAxe
I am all for Drug Legalization, and think that this rule is stupid. However, I wish that my fellow pro-legalization allies would quit it with the whole "hemp is going to save the world" schtick.

It makes us look stupid. Hemp paper is not better than regular paper. Hemp rope is not better than regular rope, and hemp is not going to stop global warming by propagating itself all over the place. The woman in this article who claims that Hemp grain is "the most nutritionally complete seed on the planet for human consumption." is not doing us any favors. It just reinforces the false opinion that the only people who support legalization are a bunch of crazed pot-worshipping dopeheads who are stoned all the time.

11 posted on 10/15/2001 9:12:48 AM PDT by Rodney King
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To: lavaroise
Isn't THC produced by the brain to regulate the thyroid's functions? Will the DEA ban usage of my brain?

It appears that someone or something has already done that.

12 posted on 10/15/2001 9:13:19 AM PDT by Fred25
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To: MadameAxe
LET THE LAWSUITS BEGIN!
13 posted on 10/15/2001 9:14:26 AM PDT by MooCollins
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To: MadameAxe
Oh Big Brother
14 posted on 10/15/2001 9:15:29 AM PDT by Storm Orphan
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To: Central Scrutiniser
Dumbasses...gee, we could use hemp oil to power our cars and thumb our noses at the middle east...naaah, why do that? www.hempcar.org

When I used to get high, I just used my magic carpet.

15 posted on 10/15/2001 9:15:31 AM PDT by Fred25
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To: Rodney King
I think the 'hemp-worshippers' are DEA 'agents provocateur'.

Or just stoner airheads.;^)

16 posted on 10/15/2001 9:16:02 AM PDT by headsonpikes
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To: MadameAxe
Wonder what Woody thinks?
17 posted on 10/15/2001 9:16:06 AM PDT by slouper
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To: motexva
Time to second guess your contacts:

Yes, We're At War...Against Sick Americans

18 posted on 10/15/2001 9:16:13 AM PDT by Wolfie
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To: MadameAxe
i feel safer.
19 posted on 10/15/2001 9:16:28 AM PDT by Rustynailww
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To: MadameAxe; AuntB; Jeff Head
Madame, just remember the master mind behind the spotted owl rural cleansing and the Klamath Basin irrigation crisis due to the Short Nosed Sucker Fish is Andy Kerr!

Andy Kerr has recently thrown off all pretenses and is CEO of Larch Corporation which advocates massive hemp farms where and when our farmers and ranchers get rurally cleansed! Of course these hemp farms will have no problem getting irrigaion water, roads into and from reclaimed forest areas and of course their precious salmon will have to fend for them selves for water and shelter during the raising and harvest of hemp!

20 posted on 10/15/2001 9:17:37 AM PDT by Grampa Dave
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