DEA Stalled Taking Hemp Foods off the Shelf

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
Ninth Circuit that the “grace period” for hemp food products that contain “any
THC” will be extended, according to Just-Food. The extension reassures retailers
stocking and selling hemp food products that, for the next 40 days, the DEA will
not commence enforcement action.

Ultimately, the hemp food industry expects to prevail against the DEA’s attempt to ban hemp foods. Congress exempted nutritious hemp seed and oil from regulation (see 21 USC §802(16)), and the trace infinitesimal THC in hemp seed and oil is not psychoactive and does not interfere with workplace drug-testing.

The ten-year-old global hemp market is a thriving commercial success. Unfortunately,
because DEA’s drug-war approach has confounded the biologically distinct non-psychoactive
industrial hemp varieties of cannabis with the psychoactive marijuana varieties,
the US is the only major industrialized nation to prohibit the growing and processing
of industrial hemp.

Moderator Comment: Should the U.S. government ban products with non-psychoactive
hemp?

A growing number of American manufacturing and retail
businesses see opportunities for hemp product sales. Across the globe, hemp
is being used in everything from non-dairy milk products to clothing; paper
products to bird seed. According to t he North American Industrial Hemp Council,
over 25,000 products can be made from hemp. Here are some facts we picked up
from the NAIHC site.

• At a volume level of 81 percent, hemp oil is the richest
  known source of polyunsaturated essential fatty acids (the “good” fats). It’s
  quite high in some essential amino acids, including gamma linoleic acid (GLA),
  a very rare nutrient also found in mother’s milk.
  
• While the original “gruel” was made of hemp seed meal,
  hemp oil and seed can be made into tasty and nutritional products.

For more information on the uses for hemp and its potential
benefits, check out www.naihc.org.
[George
Anderson – Moderator]

• DEA
  Backs Down on THC Ruling Enforcement – Hemp Food to Stay in Stores – from Just-Food