Pubdate: Mon, 08 Apr 2002
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Section: Breaking News
Copyright: 2002 Hearst Communications Inc.
Contact:  http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/388
Author: David Kravets (AP)

DRUG WAR ATTACKS HEMP FOODS AND DOCTORS WHO RECOMMEND POT

SAN FRANCISCO - The government fought a two-pronged battle in the drug war 
Monday, arguing in a federal appeals court that it can ban hemp foods and 
strip doctors of their licenses for recommending marijuana.

In the case brought by the hemp industry, the Drug Enforcement 
Administration asked a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of 
Appeals to let it outlaw food products containing hemp. The court last 
month blocked the DEA from enforcing a ban it enacted in October, pending 
the outcome of the case.

Hemp is an industrial plant related to marijuana. Fiber from hemp plants 
long has been used to make paper, clothing, rope and other products. Its 
oil is found in body-care products such as lotion, soap and cosmetics and 
in a host of foods, including energy bars, waffles, milk-free cheese, 
veggie burgers and bread.

DEA attorney Daniel Dormont said the government banned food made with hemp 
because "there's no way of knowing" whether some products may get consumers 
high.

Hemp food sellers say their products are full of nutrition, not drugs. They 
say the food contains such a small amount of the active ingredient in 
marijuana that it's impossible to get high.

In October, the DEA declared that food products containing even trace 
amounts of tetrahydrocannabinol -- the psychoactive chemical known as THC 
that is found in marijuana and sometimes in hemp -- were banned under the 
Controlled Substances Act.

The DEA ordered a halt in the production and distribution of all goods 
containing THC that were intended for human consumption. The DEA also 
ordered all such products destroyed or removed from the United States by 
March 18, but the 9th Circuit suspended that order so it could decide 
whether federal law may classify hemp food as an illegal controlled 
substance such as heroin.

The court did not indicate when it would rule on either the hemp case, or a 
separate medical marijuana case judges also heard Monday.

In that case before the same three-judge panel, the Department of Justice 
asked the court to lift a 2000 order that prohibits the government from 
threatening to revoke doctors' federal licenses to dispense medication if 
they recommend marijuana to sick patients.

Justice attorney Michael Stern said doctors are interfering with the drug 
war and circumventing the government's judgment that marijuana has no 
medical benefits.

Doctors who recommend marijuana in the eight states that have medical 
marijuana laws "will make it easier to obtain marijuana in violation of 
federal law," he said.

Graham Boyd, an American Civil Liberties Union attorney, told the court 
that the government was trying to stifle doctor-patient interactions.

"That is speech that is protected by the First Amendment," he argued.

The case stems from an order by U.S. District Judge William Alsup, who 
prohibited the Justice Department from revoking doctors' licenses to 
dispense medication "merely because the doctor recommends medical marijuana 
to a patient based on a sincere medical judgment." Alsup's order also 
prevents federal agents "from initiating any investigation solely on that 
ground."

The case was an outgrowth of Proposition 215, which California voters 
approved in 1996. It allows patients to lawfully use marijuana with a 
doctor's recommendation.

Following the measure's passage, the Clinton administration said that 
doctors who recommended marijuana would lose their federal licenses to 
prescribe medicine. He said the doctors would be excluded from Medicare and 
Medicaid and could face criminal charges.

Other states with medical marijuana laws include Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, 
Maine, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.

Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court said clubs that sell marijuana to the 
sick with a doctor's recommendation are breaking federal drug laws. Several 
pot clubs continue to operate in cities including San Francisco.

In February, the government raided one San Francisco club and agents shut 
down a West Hollywood cannabis club in October.

The cases are Hemp Industries Association v. Drug Enforcement 
Administration, 01-71662 and Conant v. Walters, 00-17222.
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MAP posted-by: Beth