Idiocy at DEA

[Guest guest]

Hemp On Rye

By Lisa Sorg, San Antonio Current

Posted on October 12, 2004, Printed on October 13,

2004

http://www.alternet.org/story/20154/

 

In the Dauphin region of Manitoba, the days are

growing shorter and colder, and snow will soon be on

the ground, where it will linger until March. Across

the horizon, prairies teem with combines plodding

through the fields for the annual hemp harvest.

 

Since early June, when Canadian farmers could be

relatively certain that the last frost had passed,

hemp plants have grown from seedlings poking through

the province's black soil to statuesque stalks, with

serrated leaves that give way to ripe flowers full of

seeds.

 

Farmers export the seeds and plant fibers to the

United States, where manufacturers use it to make

goods such as flour, bread, cheese, butter, birdseed,

clothing and personal care products. High in protein

and omega-3 fatty acids, hemp foodstuffs appeal to

those looking for an alternative to fish, which can

contain mercury. The Hemp Industry Association

estimates annual sales of U.S. hemp food products is

$40 million.

 

Despite hemp's nutritional benefits, you will not find

lush fields of the plant in the U.S. because, since

1958, it has been illegal to grow the " industrial "

variety here. Hemp is related to marijuana, but is

non-psychoactive and its flowers contain only trace

amounts of THC.

 

Although you'd puke before eating enough hemp bread to

get stoned, had a proposed rule by the Drug

Enforcement Administration become law, you could have

been charged with possession of a Schedule I

controlled substance for keeping a loaf in the fridge.

 

In a 2003 rule change, the DEA tried to criminalize

the importation of hemp foods for human consumption

(but not birdseed and animal food), claiming they

contained THC and thus fell under the provisions of

the Controlled Substances Act, which Congress passed

in the heady days of 1970.

 

The Hemp Industry Association, a lobbying group,

immediately sued the DEA and also filed a challenge

under the North American Free Trade Agreement, of

which Canada is a partner. While this move triggered

mandatory meetings with the State Department, David

Bronner, chairman of the HIA's Food and Oil Committee

says, " Under NAFTA rules, you can't change policy. The

only avenue was a domestic court. "

 

Enter the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which

unanimously ruled that the DEA could not ban

nutritious hemp foods and that the Controlled

Substances Act specifically exempted " industrial " hemp

products, much like it exempted poppy seeds from the

list of prohibited opiates. The Bush administration

failed to appeal the decision by the Sept. 27

deadline, and the court's ruling held.

 

To celebrate the Ninth Circuit's decision, we broke

out the hemp bread and opted for peanut butter and

banana as a topping, since hemp cheese should be

consumed only with the same caveats as soy cheese; in

other words, bleck. Earthy, crunchy and dense, the

dark bread (which also contains spelt, kamut and other

exotic grains) serves as a good gateway to other hemp

foods: the raw seeds taste like their sunflower

counterparts and can be roasted; the flour can be used

in waffles and nut breads.

 

Ironically, the Puritans first brought hemp to America

in 1645, and the crop flourished in the South and

Midwest until the development of the cotton gin and

popularity of jute and abaca displaced it. In World

War II, imports of abaca and jute were unavailable and

hemp briefly came back in vogue. Unlike cotton, hemp

requires few pesticides or herbicides, and is often

grown organically. Its leaves resemble that of the pot

plant, which can confuse law enforcement agents

surveilling fields from helicopters.

 

" People think you can grow pot in a hemp field, " says

Bronner. " Hemp grows densely and tall and looks very

different from marijuana, which is low and busy. No

one would grow a drug crop in a non-drug crop. It

would cross-pollinate and ruin its potency. "

 

Bronner sees the court's ruling as a step towards

eventual legalization of hemp farming in the U.S.

Fourteen states have passed legislation to research

hemp agriculture, albeit under extremely controlled

circumstances and with federal permits. In 1999,

Hawaii received $200,000 from a hair care company to

plant test plots of hemp, although the federal

government required the fields to be enclosed in

12-foot-high fence with infrared surveillance.

 

On the federal level, votehemp.com rated presidential

candidates on their stances on U.S. hemp cultivation:

Bush received an F for the DEA's proposed rule; Kerry

received a failing grade because he did not follow up

on a promise to complete the hemp survey. Independent

Ralph Nader, Green David Cobb and Libertarian Michael

Badnarik received A-pluses for supporting the

legalization of industrial hemp.

 

Vice presidential candidate John Edwards, who hails

from a major tobacco-producing state, North Carolina,

received a B-minus for agreeing to allow research

without federal permits but remaining undecided on

whether to allow farmers to grow it.

 

Bronner says some members of Congress are sympathetic

to the hemp cause, although none will go on the record

in favor of hemp during an election year. The HIA is

also working with Midwestern farmers to rally support.

Still, hemp's opponents contend legalizing hemp

farming would, as Bronner describes, " send the wrong

message to children. "

 

" Generally you have opposition from the cultural

warriors, the religious, zealot right. You can't have

the message come out that there are some pretty

amazing applications for hemp. "

© 2004 Independent Media Institute. All rights

reserved.

View this story online at:

http://www.alternet.org/story/20154/

 

 

 

 

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