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Thursday, August 21, 2003

Hemp industry alive and well at Expo East 2003

Hemp food dispute in final stages, oral arguments Sept. 17 in S.F.

VoteHemp

As the hemp industry prepares for oral arguments against the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) attempt to ban hemp food products, hemp manufacturers and advocacy groups will showcase new hemp products at the Natural Products Expo East, September 4-7 at the new Washington, D.C. Convention Center.

The Hemp Industries Association (HIA) is fighting the Drug Enforcement Administration’s “Final Rule” regarding hemp foods in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. If this new “Final Rule” were to take effect, it would ban hemp seed and oil and consequently destroy the multi-million dollar hemp food industry. Due to a Court ordered Stay, hemp foods remain perfectly legal to import, sell and consume while the Court hears arguments and renders a decision. The hemp industry expects a decision on the “Final Rule” in the next six months.

In addition to being the premiere trade show for natural and organic products on the East Coast, this year’s Natural Products Expo East is an excellent opportunity for the hemp food industry to promote its products before the oral arguments in Court begin on September 17, 2003. The following hemp companies will be exhibiting or selling products at the Expo East: Acorn Designs; Dr. Bronners Magic Soaps; Ecolution; Epicurean Soap Company; French Meadow Bakery; Gertrude & Bronner’s Magic Alpsnack; North American Hemp Co.; Jason Natural Cosmetics; Kiss My Face; Nature’s Path Foods, Inc. and Raining Rose. Additionally, the following hemp companies will be sharing a booth with the HIA and the Canadian Hemp Trade Alliance (CHTA): Canolio Nutraceutics; Hemp Oil Canada, Inc.; Hempola, Inc.; Hempzel Pretzels; Mantioba Harvest; Nutiva, Inc. and Ruth’s Hemp Foods.

Background Re: HIA v. DEA in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals The DEA’s “Final Rule,” issued on March 21, is virtually identical to an “Interpretive Rule” issued by the DEA on October 9, 2001 that never went into effect because of a Ninth Circuit Stay issued on March 7, 2002. The hemp industry won a major victory against the DEA on June 30, 2003 when the Ninth Circuit invalidated the “Interpretative Rule.” On March 28, 2003 the HIA, several hemp food and cosmetic manufacturers and the Organic Consumers Association petitioned the Ninth Circuit to once again prevent the DEA from ending the legal sale of hemp seed and oil products in the U.S. through their “Final Rule” and on April 16, 2003, the Ninth Circuit again issued a Stay.

North American hemp food companies voluntarily observe reasonable THC limits similar to those adopted by European nations as well as Canada and Australia. These limits protect consumers with a wide margin of safety from any psychoactive effects or workplace drug-testing interference (see hemp industry standards regarding trace THC at www.testpledge.com). The DEA has hypocritically not targeted food manufacturers for using poppy seeds (in bagels and muffins, for example) even though they contain far higher levels of trace opiates. The recently-revived global hemp market is a thriving commercial success. Unfortunately, because the DEAs Drug War paranoia has confused non-psychoactive industrial hemp varieties of cannabis with psychoactive “marihuana” varieties, the U.S. is the only major industrialized nation to prohibit the growing of industrial hemp.

For more information, contact:

VoteHemp
Adam Eidinger
Tel: (202) 986-6186
Tel: (202) 744-2671 (cell)
URL: www.votehemp.com

Copyright © 2003, VoteHemp. All rights reserved.

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