Pubdate: Sun, 08 Feb 2004 Source: Watertown Daily Times (NY) Copyright: 2004 Watertown Daily Times Contact: http://www.wdt.net Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/792 Section: A page 2 Cited: Hemp Industries Association http://www.votehemp.com Decision: http://www.votehemp.com/PDF/HIAvDEA_9th_final_decision.pdf Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/hemp+food MAKERS OF HEMP FOODS WIN FIGHT TO STAY IN STORES [San Jose Mercury News] Makers of hemp foods, who waged a two year fight with the federal government, won a major victory Friday when a federal appeals court ruled unanimously that their beers, bread, cereals, granola bars, waffles and other products can stay on supermarket shelves. Nowhere was the decision by San Francisco's 9th Circuit Court of Appeals more hailed than in California, home to more hemp food manufactures than any other state. " It's a great day for us, and I'm looking forward to offering hemp foods without having the shadow of government trying to slow us down," said John Roulac, a plaintiff and founder of Nutiva, a Sebastopol, Calif. company that makes hemp-food bars and hemp chips. The three-judge panel overturned a federal rule that would have banned the sale of foods made from sterilized hemp seeds and oil, which contain trace amounts of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the hallucinogenic substance found in marijuana. The Hemp Industry Association, an Occidental, Calif., group representing hemp product manufacturers, maintained that the trace amounts of THC in hemp foods cannot cause psycho-activity or a positive urine test for marijuana, even if unrealistically high levels of hemp seed and oil were consumed. Moreover, health food manufacturers touted hemp seed and oil as a near-miracle nutrient that's high in vitamin E and essential fatty acids, and richer in protein than meat and fish. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin