Persons who frequently consume food items containing hemp seeds and oil are very unlikely to fail a workplace urine test for marijuana. This is the main finding of a recent toxicological study commissioned by the Agricultural Research and Development Initiative (ARDI), a program funded by the Canadian federal and the Manitoba provincial governments; the North American Industrial Hemp Council (NAIHC), and several manufacturers of hemp foods.

A small item appeared in the July 22 Herald Whig so misleading and distorted it really must be challenged. The report concerned a patch of “wild and uncultivated” marijuana in Hancock County consisting of about 600 plants hauled away by the sheriff’s department. Ascribed to Sheriff John Johnson was a statement referring to the value of “the cultivated marijuana” as equal to about $1,000 a plant making the haul potentially worth “$600,000.” So which was it, “wild and uncultivated” or “cultivated?” Sheriff Johnson is quoted as saying under the right growing conditions wild marijuana can have almost the same amount of THC as cultivated marijuana. This last statement must be refuted.

An ice cream van peddling cannabis is perhaps every parent’s nightmare but a child would have to slurp a lifetime’s worth of this frozen dessert before they ever got high. The world’s first hemp ice cream launched this week is estimated to contain less than one part per million of the active ingredient which pot smokers are interested in.