Gerbil's Giant Gumball Gumbo

HEMP FOODS DODGE ANOTHER DEA BULLET IN COURT

The Bush Administration is running out of options in its quest to keep Americans from eating foods made from hemp. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decided June 28 to deny the Drug Enforcement Administration a re-hearing of the hemp food ban. The administration must decide by September 28 whether to appeal this decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.

"The public and the media should question the DEA's waste of tax dollars in trying to crush the legitimate hemp food industry," said Eric Steenstra, President of Vote Hemp, in a press release. "A Bush administration appeal will fail and only further embarrass the DEA. Appealing the decision is a last-ditch effort to save face at the expense of taxpayers and limited law enforcement resources."

Industrial hemp, though related to marijuana, contains little to no THC, the compound that produces a "high" for those who smoke its psychoactive cousin. Manufacturers of hemp foods have agreed to keep THC levels low enough to allow snackers to pass their drug tests. By contrast, poppy seed muffins or bagels can cause a false positive for opiates -- but no government effort exists to crack down on producers of poppy-seed foods.