cannabisnews.com: Appeals Court Rejects DEA Bid To Outlaw Hemp Foods Appeals Court Rejects DEA Bid To Outlaw Hemp Foods Posted by CN Staff on February 06, 2004 at 11:51:11 PT By Terence Chea, Associated Press Source: Associated Press San Francisco -- Rejecting one front of the government's drug war, a federal appeals court ruled Friday the United States cannot ban the sale of food made with natural hemp that contains only trace amounts of the psychoactive chemical in marijuana.The decision overturns the Drug Enforcement Administration's ban on the domestic sale of hemp food products. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals put the DEA's move on hold last March so it could hear a challenge from the hemp industry. On Friday, the court said that though the DEA has regulatory authority over marijuana and synthetically derived tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the agency did not follow the law in asserting authority over all hemp food products as well."They cannot regulate naturally-occuring THC not contained within or derived from marijuana," the court ruled, noting it's not possible to get high from products with only trace amounts of the mind-altering chemical.Hemp is an industrial plant related to marijuana. Fiber from the plant long has been used to make paper, clothing, rope and other products. Its oil is found in body-care products such as lotion, soap and cosmetics and in a host of foods, including energy bars, waffles, milk-free cheese, veggie burgers and bread.Last April, DEA attorney Daniel Dormont argued for the ban, telling the three-judge appeals panel that "there's no way of knowing" whether some food made with hemp could get consumers high.Hemp food sellers say their products are full of nutrition, not drugs. They say the food contains such a small amount of the active ingredient in marijuana that it's impossible to get high.In October 2002, the DEA declared that food products containing even trace amounts of THC were banned under the Controlled Substances Act.The DEA ordered a halt to the production and distribution of all goods containing THC that were intended for human consumption. The DEA also ordered all such products destroyed or removed from the United States by March 18 - but the 9th Circuit suspended that order so it could decide whether federal law may classify hemp food as an illegal controlled substance like heroin.The case is Hemp Industries Association v. Drug Enforcement Administration, 01-71662. Source: Associated Press Author: Terence Chea, Associated PressPublished: February 6, 2004Copyright: 2004 The Associated Press Related Articles & Web Sites:HIAhttp://www.thehia.org/Cannabis News Hemp Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/hls.htmEfforts To Outlaw Hemp Could Go Up in Smokehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18160.shtmlThe Demonized Seed - LA Timeshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18154.shtmlAppellate Court Overturns Ban On Hemp In Foodhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16725.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #12 posted by FoM on February 06, 2004 at 16:17:28 PT Expanded AP Article & Common Dreams Article Appeals Court Rejects DEA Bid To Outlaw Hemp Foods: http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18310.shtmlDEA Cannot Regulate Naturally-Occurring THC: http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18308.shtmlHIA Vs. DEA Hemp Ruling in PDF: http://freedomtoexhale.com/hempruling.pdf [ Post Comment ] Comment #11 posted by mamawillie on February 06, 2004 at 15:37:44 PT Its on the Foxnews ticker I came here to see what the story was because I caught the tail end of the ticker on Foxnews.... [ Post Comment ] Comment #10 posted by mayan on February 06, 2004 at 15:32:11 PT Hemp-Hemp-Hooray!!! This is great news! This should give Canada's hemp industry a big shot in the arm. This ruling, along with the fact that the demand for Canadian hemp has finally caught up with the supply, should convince their farmers to plant a little more this year. There is hope for this world yet!Vote Hemp Releases Voter Guide on Presidential Candidates - Kucinich Scores A+ Rating: http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=108-02022004 [ Post Comment ] Comment #9 posted by Nuevo Mexican on February 06, 2004 at 14:30:51 PT Fantastic! Will it make the news? Anyone seen this mentioned in the 'mainline' media?It should make the news ticker, but how will they spin this to be a bush victory? Believe me, they'll find a way!Just like our victory in Iraq, eh?bush is toast folks, too bad lame will replace lamer if the pundits are right, but alot should change with the next primary, the more Kerry looks like a sure thing, the more likely he won't be, as the media will tire of a front-runner, in kerrys case, this is good. Baby boomers showed so much promise, but once we got our credit cards, we turned into mindless consumers, and child-like losers. The greatest generation turned into the greatest hypocrties, for the most part, C-newsers are the exception, but Clinton/kerry types seem to be the rule.My hope is Gen Xers kick our debt-ridden asses, and hold to their beliefs, and shun the older generations addiction to shopping and consumerism. Gen-xers are here to clean up the Baby Boomers daipers, snap them out of their middle aged denial, and take over the job of creating a new vision of the world, a vision Baby boomers were once credited with, but without the practical knowledge of how to do it.I see common sense rampant in the younger generation, and denial a frequent trait in our generations personality.Again, not so much with those who continue to carry the vision we had in the 60's, but with those plastic people we all went to school with, who made fun of bell bottoms until they realized how 'square' they looked in the white socks and penny loafers. They inhabit the world of telivised news and continue to hold the same attitudes as those high school bullies that belonged to the 'tappa keg' drinking clubs. Now we watch them pontificate daily as talking heads, same agenda, dismiss the counter culture and anything connected to it, like Dennis Kucinichs' spiritual beliefs, vision of the future, idealism etc. Its all about the bottom line to these folks, money and nothing else.As the U.S. falls, prohibition will fall, the birth of a loving, compassionate future is upon us, and this ruling on hemp foods paves the way to reach the public through the food chain, the same way the corporations have corrupted the food chain, with GMO's, pesticides, packaging, and image over substance.We are what we eat they say, this would be a good phrase to promote hemp foods I think! [ Post Comment ] Comment #8 posted by global_warming on February 06, 2004 at 14:26:18 PT Well Said Kapt- These are sick people, and they have a job to do, they are forever going to try, to pass such chicken-crap laws, for the better of this world, yeah, right, for the better of their power and their pocket books.But one thing I am sure of,the mentally ill, no matter how many times they are corralled, they always manage to re-surface, with new and even better manias.There should be a place for such mental cripples, the asylums are full, where are we going to put these rejects?I am happy to hear, that the judges (lawyers) have at least followed some sense of reason and law.-gw [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by Virgil on February 06, 2004 at 13:46:14 PT That sure took long enough You mean it took since October of 2002 to decide this? Thank goodness that is over. Where is the gruel? What does gruel look like anyway? When will it make it to the cereal section? Oh, Hempola... [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by Treeanna on February 06, 2004 at 13:25:02 PT Woot! :) YAY!!! [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by BigDawg on February 06, 2004 at 13:06:15 PT YES! Nothing better than a small lite in the darkness. [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by kaptinemo on February 06, 2004 at 12:41:58 PT: Feel that, DEA? Those painful blisters you have on your power-grabbing pinkies are the result of getting scortched for putting them where they never belonged to begin with. The price of overweening arrogance.Of course, such blind, unwarranted arrogance can only be cured with repeated treatments, so, go ahead, try again. Put your hands on our freedoms again. It might not be burn marks you come away with next time; you may find out what happened to all those whose lives you've destroyed...By JOINING THEM IN PRISON.The DEA was and is Nixon's Doomsday Weapon, something that was left over from a bygone era to threaten us today, like an unexploded munition in some oblivious farmer's field. They should have been disbanded long ago, Tricky Dick dug up and their charter thrown in the casket on top of his remains, to be unceremoniously re-buried in a grave simply marked with "A traitor and his deeds". It's all he and they ever deserved... [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by E_Johnson on February 06, 2004 at 12:10:58 PT He must be on drugs "Last April, DEA attorney Daniel Dormont argued for the ban, telling the three-judge appeals panel that "there's no way of knowing" whether some food made with hemp could get consumers high."Wow and there's no way of knowing when the sun will go supernova either!Well no actually there's a thing called science, and two of the human thinking tools in science are logic and proportion. Logic and proportion applied to things we already know tell us the sun is not in any imminent danger of going supernova, and people are not in any imminent danger of getting high on hemp seed.The DEA rejects both logic and proportion so what can be done with them? [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by E_Johnson on February 06, 2004 at 12:05:50 PT Judges are wising up I'm so glad we have three separate branches of government. [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by FoM on February 06, 2004 at 11:52:04 PT Good News! I really like posting good news! I smile alot then! [ Post Comment ] Post Comment