Hemp's Last Hurrah

On March 21, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration released its final ruling on hemp foods, reiterating its previous determination that even food products containing only trace amounts of THC, the psychoactive drug found in marijuana, are illegal. A second ruling exempts body care products, such as soap and shampoo. However, if the DEA chooses to bust hemp oil importers, that industry could dry up as well. The rule does not outlaw the use of hemp fiber and textiles.

Hemp advocates have petitioned the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco to intervene. If it does not, the DEA's rule goes into effect April 21.

Like many legal battles, the fight to keep products made with hemp on store shelves has taken a convoluted route. For three decades, the DEA ignored the commercial use of hemp, which is imported legally from other countries where it is grown legally, such as Canada. The cultivation of hemp in the U.S. is illegal.

But starting in the late 1990s, when the use of hemp began to proliferate in products such as Nature's Path Organic Hemp Plus Granola and Humboldt Brewing Company's Hemp Ale, the DEA took notice. In October, 2001, the DEA delivered an "interpretive rule" deeming that the 1970 Controlled Substance Act outlaws foods containing any amount of THC -- as do most foods made from hemp seed and oil, which are extracted from marijuana plants.

Advocates say the DEA's new attack on hemp has more to do with politics than with miniscule amounts of THC. "It's funny [that] only after the industry started growing [the DEA] stepped in," says Adam Eidinger, spokesman for the Washington D.C.-based VoteHemp.org. "They hadn't stepped in 30 years. They don't want the industry to prosper because they see it as a counterculture thing. I think it's a cultural war.

"People who eat hemp food tend to be liberal," he continues. "They tend to be Democrats and Green Party. It's a drug war out of control."

But Will Glaspy, a DEA spokesman in Washington D.C. says manufacturers of hemp foods "weren't familiar with federal law" when they opened for business. "That's the reason the interpretive rule was issued," he says. "This is not a new law. THC has always been illegal."

After the DEA released its interpretive rule in 2001, the hemp industry immediately struck back, petitioning the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco to intervene. On March 7 of last year, the appeals court issued a stay, blocking the interpretive rule from going into effect.

Hemp advocates, including the Hemp Industries Association and David Bronner, president and chairman of the Escondido, California-based Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps, which started using hemp in its soaps in 1999, are hoping the court will once again issue a stay. If the court doesn't side with the hemp industry, it could mean the end of an industry. "If the court doesn't issue a stay, we're going to all be out of business," Bronner says.

Hemp food and body care products have become an annual $40-50 billion industry in the U.S. Food manufacturers desire hemp seed and oil because of their taste and nutrition value -- hemp contains high concentration of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. Moreover, many companies have wrapped up their marketing and entire commercial identities in the use of hemp.

However, in light of the appeals court's decision last year and the merits of the DEA's arguments, Bronner remains confident the court will side with the hemp industry.

The strongest argument hemp advocates have against the DEA ruling comes straight from the Controlled Substance Act itself, which specifically exempts hemp oil and seed products. While it outlaws marijuana, the act says the term marijuana "does not include the mature stalks of such plant, fiber produced from such stalks, oil or cake made from the seeds of such plant, any other compound, manufacture, salt, derivative, mixture, or preparation of such mature stalks (except the resin extracted there from), fiber, oil, or cake, or the sterilized seed of such plant which is incapable of germination."