“The industry should have been focused on marketplace promotion and consumer education rather than flushing over $200,000 down the drain battling pointless Drug Enforcement Administration hysteria.”
– Eric Steenstra, Executive Director of Vote Hemp; VoteHemp.com; February 2004
With all the evidence that hemp is a highly nutritious food substance with no other plant providing such balanced levels of healthful substances, what did the George W. Bush administration and the Drug Enforcement Administration try to do about foods and other products containing hemp? They aggressively worked to ban hemp foods from being imported into or manufactured or sold in the U.S.
If the DEA had succeeded, anyone importing hemp or hemp products, or possessing hemp or products containing hemp would face the risk of criminal prosecution – even though hemp is not a drug, and it can’t get you high.
The DEA later made revisions to limit the products they sought to ban to those of food products and not industrial products or other items not intended for human consumption that contained derivatives of the hemp plant.
“On October 9, 2001, without public notice or opportunity for comment, the Drug Enforcement Administration issued an interpretive rule purporting to make hemp foods containing any trace of naturally occurring tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the active ingredient found in marijuana, immediately illegal under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) of 1971. Because trace THC does not pose any potential for abuse as a drug, the U.S. Congress had exempted non-viable hemp seed and oil from control under the CSA. Similarly, Congress exempted poppy seeds from the CSA, although they contain trace opiates otherwise subject to control.
Sterilized hemp seeds have been available in the U.S. for decades and are recognized as an exceptional source of protein, omega-3 and omega-6 essential fatty acids (EFAs) and Vitamin E. Independent studies and reviews conducted by foreign governments have confirmed that trace THC found in the increasingly popular hemp foods cannot cause psychoactivity or other health effects, or result in a confirmed positive urine test for marijuana, even when unrealistically high amounts of hemp seed and oil are consumed daily. Hemp seeds and oil are as likely to be abused as poppy seed bagels for their trace opiate content, or fruit juices because of their trace alcohol content. Yet, the DEA has not tried to ban poppy seed bagels despite their trace opiates that have interfered with workplace drug testing, which hemp foods do not. The hemp industry is reassuring retailers and consumers that hemp food products should remain on the shelves, as victory in court is virtually certain. David Bronner, chairman of the Hemp Industries Association’s Food and Oil Committee, says, ‘Based on the law and common sense, we expect that the Court will find that DEA’s rules are obviously unfounded and arbitrary.’
… Keep in mind that eating hemp foods in the hope of achieving a ‘high’ is as likely to succeed as eating corn to get drunk. The notion that eating hemp foods in anything short of super-human amounts will cause false positives in drug screening is farcical as well.”
– Hemp Industry vs. DEA in U.S. Court, a press release by Kentucky Hemp Outfitters, KentuckyHemp.com; January 7, 2002
The George W. Bush administration along with the Drug Enforcement Administration and the conservative right-wing Family Research Council (FRC) worked together on this goal to ban all food and other products containing hemp.
The FRC is aligned with hyper conservative viewpoints limiting free speech and a free society. The actions of the FRC are devised with the intention of creating what they envision as a more moral society. They claim to support Christian values. By researching the activities of the FRC a person may easily conclude that the FRC is working to create a society that isn’t based on values they claim Jesus would advocate.
It is frightening that a group that is as misinformed and closed-minded as the FRC could have so much influence on national policy.
With reasoning based on nonsense, the FRC considered that allowing hemp foods to be sold in America was a gateway to legalizing marijuana. They promoted the theory that hemp products are a looming threat to a drug-free society.
“Despite Bush administration propaganda, hemp foods contain insignificant levels of THC (tetrahyrdocannabinol), the chemical in marijuana that results in psychotropic effects. In that sense, eating hemp foods does not interfere with workplace drug tests, and, in fact, the THC levels in hemp foods are below that of opiates found in poppy seeds in muffins and breads.”
– Organic Consumers Association, Organic Bytes #40; September 29, 2004; OrganicConsumers.org
If the FRC had done some simple research they could easily have concluded that one can’t get high from foods containing hemp. Nor could one get stoned from burning or ingesting hemp products.
In response to the ban, the Hemp Industries Association (HIA) filed a petition challenging the Drug Enforcement Administration. The HIA had good reason to do so. The association is made up of hemp growers and companies that import, manufacture, and sell hemp products. At that time the association included Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps, Nature’s Path Foods, Hempzels, and Ruth Hemp Foods, as well as Hemp Oil Canada, Kenex, the Organic Consumers Association, and some other businesses.
If the DEA had been successful in banning hemp foods, thousands of people would have lost their jobs and Americans would have been unable to enjoy the nutritional and health benefits of hemp foods and supplements. The Canadian hemp industry would also have suffered.
During the lawsuit the U.S. government spent millions of dollars to make hemp food products illegal. Manufacturers, importers, bakeries, distributors, and stores lost millions of dollars because hundreds of products containing hemp were pulled from store shelves. Some stores, including my local natural foods market, removed all hemp products for fear that they too would become targets of the DEA and would be brought into expensive legal situations.
“On March 21, while most Americans were captivated by the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) published their final rules on hemp foods. The new ‘Final Rule’ essentially bans the sale of all hemp food products by April 21, 2003, and is virtually identical to an ‘Interpretive Rule’ issued on October 9, 2001 that never went into effect because of a U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Stay issued on March 7, 2002. Today, the Hemp Industries Association (HIA) and several hemp food and cosmetic manufacturers will petition the Ninth Circuit to once again prevent the DEA from ending the legal sale of hemp seed and oil in the U.S.”
– From Organic Consumers Association and Natural Foods Industry Slam Drug Enforcement Administration on Ban on Hemp Foods: Stay on DEA Rule Continues; Hemp Industry Confident DEA Harassment to End Soon, Mary 23, 2003; HempInidustries.org; OrganicConsumers.org
Luckily the courts saw through the DEA lies and then ruled in favor of hemp.
On February 6, 2004, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals made its ruling on the case of Hemp Industries Association v. Drug Enforcement Administration, number 01-71662. The ruling was that the Drug Enforcement Administration couldn’t ban hemp products. While recognizing that the DEA has regulatory authority over marijuana and synthetically derived THC, the court ruled that the agency did not follow the law in asserting authority over all hemp food products. The court recognized that hemp has no potential for drug use and it ruled that the DEA couldn’t regulate naturally occurring THC not contained within or derived from marijuana. Noting that it is not possible to get high from products containing trace amounts of THC, the court recognized that hemp is an industrial plant related to marijuana and that the fiber of the plant has been used to make many products that are useful to society.
“A poppy seed has trace amounts of opiates, but they don’t hassle [the bakers] of poppy seed bagels. No one is smoking industrial hemp.”
– David Bronner of Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps, Escondido, California; 2005; DrBronner.com
“A good analogy would be industrial hemp has about as much THC content as the poppy seeds that your bagel has opium.
… What wisdom is there in a public policy that forces manufacturers in the U.S. to send their dollars abroad?”
– California State Assemblyman Mark Leno, appearing in KGO-TV/DT San Francisco news report about his co-sponsoring of the 2007 California Industrial Hemp Farming Act; February 19, 2007
“It doesn’t matter. It could be half of a half of a half percent. If it’s THC, it’s illegal under federal statutes.”
– Javier Pena, Drug Enforcement Administration special agent, expressing his absurd viewpoints while appearing on a KGO-TV/DT San Francisco news report on the reintroduction of the California Industrial Hemp Farming. He was responding to a comment that industrial hemp has about as much THC as poppy seeds have opium; February 19, 2007. Opium is also illegal, but we allow poppy seeds to be sold in grocery stores, at bakeries, and even poppy seed muffins to be served in schools.
Imagine the preposterous scenarios that could have taken place if the DEA had succeeded in banning all hemp foods. They could have broken down your door and burst in to arrest you for eating a salad containing dressing made of hemp oil. You could have been arrested while you rested after a jog or a bike ride because you were consuming a nutritional drink or food bar containing hemp seed protein powder. If you were stopped while driving and found to be carrying a sandwich made with bread containing hemp seeds your car could have been impounded. If you were sitting in a park having a family picnic and you had hemp chips with that salsa, you would be breaking the narcotics laws. Churches raising money by having community breakfasts that happened to be serving pancakes containing hemp seed flour would have been in big trouble.
“It’s high in fiber, high in protein, vitamin E, essential fatty acids. It’s high in everything, but you don’t get high from it.”
– Lynn Gordon of French Meadow Bakery & Café, Minneapolis, Minnesota. They have been making hemp bread since 2000. FrenchMeadow.com
“This is a huge victory for the hemp industry. The Bush administration decision not to appeal the Ninth Circuit’s 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.”
– David Bronner, Chair of the Hemp Industries Association’s Food and Oil Committee and President of Alpsnack/Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps; February 2004; DrBronner.com
“More 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.
Americans 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.”
– Alexis Baden-Mayer, Director of Government Affairs for Vote Hemp; February 2004; VoteHemp.com
“Now that the DEA cloud over the (hemp) market has lifted, sales are really exploding.”
– David Bronner of Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps, Escondido, California; 2005; DrBronner.com