Editorial
The Minnesota Daily
April 10, 2006

Hemp was the plant of choice for the founding fathers of our nation. Presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson often praised the plant in their writings and tried to persuade others to grow it as a cash crop. Nonetheless since the passage of the Marijuana Tax Act in 1937, this has not been a possibility for citizens of the United States. A new University study, however, could pave the way to change that.

The study, conducted by University researchers George Weiblen and Shannon Datwyler, identified a new and more accurate way to differentiate cannabis drug plants from nondrug plants. The method, called amplified fragment length polymorphism, generates about 100 more genetic markers per unit effort than other research techniques. This genetic "fingerprinting" of cannabis is an important first step to legalizing the growth of hemp in the United States because differentiating cannabis was not as clear in the past.

By Judy Waggoner
Appleton Post-Crescent
April 9, 2006

Rarely does a family vacation translate into a business start-up, but it did for entrepreneurs Marty and Nancy Rezmer of Appleton.

After the couple and their two children Gracelyn, 8, and Andy, 11 returned from a trip to California in 2004, they identified a market need and began to create a product to fill it.

"Every time we go to a (national) park, the kids go through the Junior Ranger program and earn badges and pins," said Marty, 57.

By Kurt Cobb
Resource Insights
April 3, 2006

Industrial hemp has an unlikely new champion: former CIA director James Woolsey. Woolsey sees a link between the need to end America's oil addiction and hemp's potential as a source of renewable energy. He said so when he visited my hometown of Kalamazoo, Michigan last weekend as part the 2006 Powershift National Tour. According to its website the tour is "a public education effort designed to engage decision-makers, youth, farmers, media and the general public on energy security."

During a question and answer session one audience member broached the subject of hemp. Embarrassed conference organizers tried to move on to another question, but Woolsey insisted on responding. To their surprise he offered a lengthy disquisition on the merits of cellulosic ethanol as an alternative fuel, the myths about industrial hemp and the potential advantages to American farmers. And, he announced that he is a board member of the North American Industrial Hemp Council.

By Tom Murphy

Yet if you were to believe former Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) employee Michael C. Barnes' hatchet piece "Don't get sucked in by hemp-laced foods" in the April 4 Atlanta Journal-Constitution, you would think that everyone, from chefs to dieticians, who says hemp is a marvelous healthy food is actually trying to sell you marijuana.

Mr. Barnes advances various dishonest reasons why hemp foods should be banned. The notion that trace insignificant levels of THC in hemp seed build up in the body to cause health effects is not supported by a single study, while there is extensive evidence that hemp seed has no harmful health effects. He then cites older articles in the Journal of Analytical Toxicology as evidence that hemp foods interfere with drug tests, but ignores the two most recent reports published by the same journal showing no interference with drug tests at current industry THC standards. Barnes fails to mention that Canadian and European governments control trace THC residues in hemp seed under straightforward regulations, and US hemp companies have adopted even more stringent standards under the TestPledge program (www.TestPledge.com) to prevent drug test interference even at unrealistic daily consumption levels.

Barnes urges the FDA to crack down on hemp companies on the theory that "hemp food companies are in direct violation of FDA rules." FDA is correctly interpreting the rules on hemp foods, which have never been illegal in the US. "Industrial hemp" refers to non-psychoactive varieties of cannabis bred for millennia for fiber and seed that have no drug effect whatsoever.

Completing Mr. Barnes' string of deception is that hemp foods are part of a slippery slope to weaken the nation's drug laws. In fact, hemp seed products are responsibly marketed solely for their health and nutritional benefits, and purposely avoid making irrelevant and distracting references to marijuana use. Clearly differentiating industrial hemp from marijuana has helped grow hemp food sales in North America by 50% per year since 2003. By Barnes' logic, poppy seeds should also be banned from use in foods. Although poppy seeds come from a non-narcotic variety of the opium poppy and contain insignificant levels of opiates, children may be encouraged to smoke opium.

Mr. Barnes is part of a cabal of government lawyers at the ONDCP and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) who lost a long useless court battle over nutritious hemp foods in 2004. These radicals are stirring local governments across America, conflating legal and healthy hemp seed foods with the very different and unlawful flavorings and marketing tactics of marijuana-flavored candy makers. These lollipops are flavored with fragrance oil distilled from hemp flowers, which do not have any drug potential but are nonetheless already unlawful under federal law.

When the Georgia General Assembly set out to stop the marketing and sale of "marijuana-flavored" candies the hemp industry sought changes to the original version of SB 511 because of potential damage to the legitimate hemp food products. We presented written testimony to the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Consumer Affairs urging them to ensure hemp seed foods would not be confused with the "marijuana-flavored" candies. The Committee responsibly adopted clarifying language in this regard. Mr. Barnes should follow the good example of the Georgia legislature and stop trying to ban cereal, waffles, and other healthy hemp foods.

Tom Murphy is the National Outreach Coordinator for VoteHemp.com which seeks to restore industrial hemp farming in the U.S.