Newsbrief: US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Rejects DEA Motion for New Hemp Hearing
7/9/04
The US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco on June 28 denied a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) petition seeking a rehearing on the court's February decision blocking the agency from attempting to ban hemp foods. That decision was made by a three-judge panel. The DEA asked for a hearing before the full court, but the court refused.
That decision now gives the DEA and the Justice Department until September 26 to decide to appeal the decision to the US Supreme Court. If the administration fails to act, the sale of hemp foods in the US will be permanently protected.
Hemp food manufacturers are confident of victory in either case, said David Bronner, Chair of the Hemp Industry Association's Food and Oil Committee and President of Alpsnack/Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps. "The three-judge panel in the Ninth Circuit unanimously ruled that the DEA ignored the specific Congressional exemption in the Controlled Substances Act hat excludes hemp fiber, seed and oil from control along with poppy seeds. The Court reasonably viewed as insignificant and irrelevant harmless trace amounts of THC in hemp seed, just like harmless trace amounts of opiates in poppy seeds," said Bronner.
Hemp companies and the HIA have spent over $200,000 in the two-and-a-half year legal struggle with the DEA, and they are prepared to go the distance. "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 (
http://www.votehemp.org). "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."
The clock is ticking.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/345/rejected.shtml