|
HARRELSON'S
HEMP SEEDS LEGAL, JURY SAYS QUICKLY
BEATTYVILLE
- The legislature said hemp and marijuana are one and the same.
The state's
highest court agreed.
But five
women and one man from Lee County said yesterday that actor Woody Harrelson
didn't break the law when he planted four hemp seeds four years ago in
a grassy Lee County field.
The jury
took only 20 minutes to find Harrelson not guilty of a misdemeanor charge
of possession of marijuana.
"That
wasn't marijuana he planted, if he planted anything," juror Sylvia
Caldwell said as she left Lee District Court with Harrelson's autograph
on a piece of hemp paper.
Outside
the courthouse, a crowd of cheering, squealing fans waited for the 39-year-old
actor in the dark hemp suit. They carried hand-lettered signs that said
"We Support Hemp."
The decision
flew in the face of a law passed by the General Assembly in 1992 and upheld
last March by a unanimous state Supreme Court.
It also
ended a case that began on June 1, 1996, when Harrelson wielded a grubbing
hoe to challenge the law, which does not distinguish between marijuana
and hemp. The latter contains only a minute amount of the psychoactive
ingredient that gives marijuana smokers a high.
Harrelson
won initially in lower courts, but the state's high court overturned the
ruling. That set up yesterday's trial, in which Harrelson faced up to
a year in jail and a $500 fine.
Former
Gov. Louie Nunn, one of Harrelson's four attorneys, challenged the law
in his closing argument when he held up a candy bar made from hemp seeds,
then took a small bite.
"Now
I've got it in me and I've got it on me," he said. "If you think
Mr. Harrelson should be put in jail for one year or one week or even one
night, I guess we'll be there together."
Lee County
Attorney Tom Jones said a videotape of Harrelson holding out the seeds
before planting them, and his repeated statements that he was challenging
the law, proved he knew he was committing a crime. He asked the jury to
convict the actor and give him the maximum fine and at least 30 days in
jail. "Mr. Harrelson has this coming," Jones said. "He
misused his fame."
Jones also
tried to suggest that Harrelson had another motive: Using legalized hemp
as a steppingstone to legalized marijuana. Harrelson testified that he
supports legalizing marijuana, but said "it's a totally separate
issue." Jones said afterward that he respected the jury's decision.
He said Harrelson is a likable person. But he also said, "he's guilty
as sin."
Nunn said
he has never seen any of Harrelson's movies and didn't meet him until
Tuesday. He said he took the case for free because he supports hemp as
a crop for Kentucky farmers.
He told
jurors that the authors of the Constitution set up the jury system as
a safeguard against bad laws or biased judges. "What's important
here today is to see the blessings of liberty guaranteed in the Constitution
are carred out," he said. "What you do here today will go out
all over this nation. It will say whether justice will prevail."
Harrelson's
appearance in Beattyville created a stir. He was mobbed by autograph-seekers
during several breaks in the trial. They included Sylvia Sparks and her
daughter, Teanna Glass, both of Beattyville. "It's the first time
I've ever seen an actor up close," Sparks said. "I saw Patrick
Swayze when he was here, but that was from a distance. This was close."
"I love all his movies," Glass said.
After the
verdict, Harrelson said that as the jury came back he was worried he might
be heading to jail. "Technically, I guess I violated the law from
what the Supreme Court says the law is," he said.
His hemp
battle in Kentucky is over, Harrelson said. He turned the fight over to
Nunn, who said that some legislators who support hemp have "political
apprehensions" about voting for it.
Charles
Beal II, another of Harrelson's attorneys, suggested the law might still
be changed to allow hemp cultivation in Kentucky. "When the law changes,
Woody would be the first to come back and plant it legally," he said.
Clip from:
THE LEXINGTON HERALD-LEADER
Lexington, Kentucky
August 25, 2000
By Andy Mead
Herald-Leader Staff Writer
INDUSTRIAL
HEMP PLANTED ON PINE RIDGE RESERVATION
On April
29, members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe planted over an acre of industrial
hemp at two sites on their Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. In
doing so, they implemented a Tribal Ordinance passed in 1998 that allows
for the cultivation and harvesting of industrial hemp on the Reservation.
April 29
was also the 132nd anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of 1868, which
granted the Tribe sovereign status. Joe American Horse, former President
of the Oglala Sioux Tribal Council and Program Manager for the Slim Butte
Land Use Association (the group that spearheaded the effort to initiate
industrial hemp production on the Reservation), stated on the reservation's
radio show that he will plant the seeds to affirm the Tribe's jurisdiction
over tribal lands.
In addition,
leaders hope that industrial hemp will eventually help alleviate housing
shortage problems faced by the Reservation. The Slim Butte Land Use Association
currently makes a hemp-based concrete building product out of hemp imported
from Canada. The group is in the process of constructing a house from
these blocks.
Although
the Tribe will use the first hemp crop primarily to gather and save seeds
for future plantings, it plans to further explore product applications
such as hemp concrete and paper once the crop is established.
For more
information, contact Tom Cook of the Slim Butte Land Use Association at
mailto:[email protected]
LAKOTA
TRIBE CHALLENGES DEA'S HEMP BAN
The Lakota
are growing hemp. But the tribe isn't breaking any laws. They're just
living up to their end of the Treaty of 1868.
Here on
the Pine Ridge Indian reservation in South Dakota, its like it happened
only a decade ago. Custer and his arrogance. The noisy, jangling cavalry
detachments patrolling the prairie who were cut to pieces by Lakota warriors.
You hear it often: "The US government never beat us in the field.
They starved us out, but they couldn't defeat us in the field."
The Fort
Laramie was supposed to prevent the bloodshed of the great Sioux War.
When ten Sioux sub-tribes, together with the Arapaho, signed the pact
on April 29, 1868, they believed they had negotiated a huge victory. The
treaty promised Native sovereignty over a region encompassing five, present-day
western states while the military was required to abandon their forts.
For a moment, it was as if the clock had been turned back.
But the
treaty was violated soon after when miners in search of gold were led
into the sacred Black Hills by Custer himself. The government opted to
do nothing allowing the situation to fester to the point where military
action against the outraged Sioux was undertaken. Though Custer was soundly
defeated at the Little Big Horn, by 1877 the last of the free bands of
Lakota, led by the brilliant Oglala warrior Crazy Horse, surrendered rather
than starve.
Although
the quality of Native American life varies from reservation to reservation,
at Pine Ridge Indian life is unimaginably bleak. Unemployment hovers between
70 and 90 percent. The scourge of rampant alcoholism, disease and poverty
challenge Oglala Lakota leaders who seek new economic opportunities for
the tribe.
Since the
mid-1990s the Slim Butte Land Use Association, a group of Oglala Lakota
landowners, has been spearheading efforts to grow low-THC industrial hemp
on Pine Ridge land. The LUA has moved quietly forward and have even constructed
a house made of 60 percent hemp materials to demonstrate the crop's capacity
for improving the quality of reservation life. Now, however, the Treaty
of 1868 is being invoked to achieve their goals.
The 1868
treaty made specific references to agriculture on the reservation with
allowances for land allotment, seeds, farm implements, education and other
means with which the Sioux were encouraged to make the transition from
hunting to farming. Lakota leaders who signed understood this, and US
law states that treaties are to be interpreted by tribal leaders as they
understood them.
Hemp was
the only fiber crop capable of producing clothing on the reservation in
1868. By the late 19th Century, hemp was already widely farmed across
America. Certainly, it was one of the crops the government hoped Indians
would cultivate. In fact, feral hemp grows today on Pine Ridge indicating
that it, indeed, had been a reservation crop at some time.
Choosing
the anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of 1868, members of the tribe
went forward this spring and planted hemp seeds in two separate, isolated
locations on Pine Ridge. Loretta Afraid of Bear Cook, the chairperson
of the Slim Butte Land Use Association, and her husband Tom, who heads
up the hemp building projects, led a small crew of field hands into the
pre-plowed fields and proceeded to sow the soil of their homeland with
hemp seed.
Because
rights reserved by a tribe under a treaty can be asserted by individual
members of the tribe, members of the Slim Butte Land Use Association believe
they stand on solid, and fertile ground. The project enjoys the backing
of the Oglala Lakota Tribal Council which passed an ordinance in 1998
that defines hemp as distinct from marijuana. Tom Ballanco, the LUA attorney
who formulated the legal strategy based on the 1868 treaty, states: "This
is a secured treaty right. The issue does not concern the federal government."
Joe American
Horse, the program manager for the LUA and a former Tribal Council President,
says, "The people used to have buffalo for our food, clothing and
shelter. Now hemp can do that for us. This is a way we can help our people
and our environment."
If the
plants are able to grow uninterrupted, harvest would take place in September.
The LUA expects to reap a sizable seed harvest for future crops. But the
planters know that these seeds also sow controversy and some official
response from the government is expected at some point. Regardless, the
Oglala Lakota move forward confidently. There's a whole, new meaning in
the claim: "They can't defeat us in the field."
Clip from:
PINE RIDGE INDIAN RESERVATION NEWS
Wounded Knee, South Dakota
August 9, 2000
By: Dan Skye
MARYLAND
AUTHORIZES THE PRODUCTION OF HEMP
Maryland
yesterday became the fourth state in the nation to authorize the production
of hemp, a hardy fibrous crop with many commercial uses that sponsors
hope will offer Maryland farmers a profitable alternative to tobacco.
There's
just one drawback: Hemp is also known as marijuana. And under federal
drug laws, it is illegal.
But with
a growing number of states showing interest in the crop to help bolster
their sagging farm economies, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration
is reviewing its hardline stance against hemp production. And Maryland
officials are optimistic that the DEA will permit them to implement their
four-year pilot program.
"We're
growing rope, not pot," said Charles Puffinberger, an assistant secretary
in the Maryland Department of Agriculture. "Maybe if we all gang
up on the DEA, they might give in and say, 'Go ahead. Grow whatever you
want.'"
Gov. Parris
N. Glendening signed a bill into law yesterday to create the Industrial
Hemp Pilot Program, authorizing state agriculture officials to design
a tightly-regulated program to grow hemp on state-owned land. Interested
farmers would face an extensive criminal background check and be licensed
by the DEA. State police could search the site at any time.
The law,
which takes effect July 1, would also require agriculture officials to
closely control the supply of hemp seeds, which are classified as a controlled
substance. The seeds must be imported from Canada or abroad with DEA approval,
Puffinberger said.
The measure
sailed through the recent legislative session with little controversy,
drawing eight negative votes in both chambers. But none of the measure's
sponsors showed up to be photographed with Glendening (D) during the bill-signing
ceremony, a popular event that normally draws crowds of supporters.
Indeed,
the only person to join Glendening and legislative leaders in the hemp
bill picture was Joyce Nalepka, of Silver Spring, an anti-drug activist
who flashed a bumper sticker behind the governor's head that said, "Boycott
Pot (and all hemp products)."
"I
am furious over the fact that this bill has passed," Nalepka said.
"Hemp is marijuana is cannabis sativa is pot. As a mother, it is
my belief that marijuana is absolutely our most dangerous drug."
Most experts
recognize a difference between the two varieties of the hemp plant, or
cannabis sativa. One, marijuana, contains high levels of a psychoactive
chemical known as THC. The other, industrial hemp, contains very low levels
of THC. It reportedly gives those who try to smoke it little more than
a headache.
Still,
federal law classifies both types of cannabis as a narcotic. Other than
Maryland, only Hawaii, North Dakota and Minnesota have laws allowing hemp
production. All were passed last year. Both Minnesota and North Dakota
allow farmers statewide to grow hemp.
In Virginia,
lawmakers passed a resolution last year urging federal officials to "revise
the necessary regulations" to permit experimental hemp production
there.
Hawaii
is the only state so far to receive DEA approval to plant hemp. The seeds
were sown in December, the nation's first legal hemp patch in nearly 50
years.
The DEA
imposed serious security measures. Hawaii's hemp is guarded by a 24-hour
alarm system and a six-foot-high fence topped with razor wire, Puffinberger
said--expensive restrictions that would be difficult to duplicate on Maryland's
budget.
DEA spokesperson
Rogene Waite said the agency is currently reviewing its security restrictions
for growing drugs such as marijuana in light of the states' concerns.
Whatever
security measures the state would take, Nalepka believes it wouldn't be
enough. "I don't care if the governor himself goes out there with
an Uzi and stands at the gate." Kids, she said, will still try to
smoke it.
The other
big question is whether hemp will be a hit with farmers.
Del. Clarence
Davis (D-Baltimore), the measure's chief sponsor, has no doubt that farmers
will find hemp "the way to go."
But one
of the legislature's few tobacco farmers, Sen. Thomas McLain Middleton
(D-Charles), was less than enthusiastic. "I'll stick with my Marlboros,
thank you," he said smiling.
Clip from:
The Washington Post Company
VERMONT
SENATE ADOPTS INDUSTRIAL HEMP RESOLUTION
On May
3, 2000 the Vermont Senate passed JRS098, "Urging U.S. DEA and U.S.
Congress to reconsider Federal policies that restrict the cultivation
and marketing of industrial hemp and related products."
Vermont
now joins ten other states which have signed bills and resolutions in
the last twelve months supporting hemp production in the U.S., including
Arkansas, Hawaii, Indiana, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, Montana, New
Mexico, North Dakota, and Virginia.
INDUSTRIAL
HEMP LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
Representative
Tom Trail has met with representatives from the Idaho Department of Agriculture
and together they are drafting legislation that is based on the North
Dakota Industrial Hemp legislation passed last year. At present the Bill
is called: The Bast Fiber and Alternative Crops Bill. This follows a resolution
by the Idaho Farm Bureau support the crop.
For more
information contact:
Mike Schlepp, phone: (208) 689-3593, fax: (208) 689-3141
e-mail: [email protected]
According
to the Boston, Globe, The New Hampshire State Legislature Gave Initial
Approval on Jan. 5, 2000 to a Bill that Could Legalize a Hemp Industry
in the State.
ALOHA
HEMP
On December
14,1999, Hawaii made history. It became the first American state since
the Second World War to allow the planting of industrial hemp seeds. "This
historic event marks the beginning of a change in federal policy, one
which I believe will lead to DEA 'farmer friendly' regulations within
the next year," said Cynthia Thielen, a State Representative from
Hawaii.
It is clear
that the U.S. is a step closer to joining the 29 countries that do allow
their farmers to cultivate industrial hemp. Canada played a major role
in the agricultural education that built the membership in this club.
Canadian companies have illuminated the economic feasibility so successfully,
in fact, the DEA had to temporarily shut down the importation of Canadian
hemp products in August 1999. Dollars do speak the loudest and the exceptional
global resurgence of hemp bears witness to the powerful commercial potential
of this crop. Trade treaties such as NAFTA permit the importation of millions
of dollars worth of industrial hemp material every year, even as American
farmers fight to diversify the ailing farm industry with the legalization
of industrial hemp.
Thanks
to Hawaiian Governor Benjamin J. Cayetano's support and the relentless
efforts of Cynthia Thielen, Hawaii became the only US state to obtain
DEA permission for growing industrial hemp. The project took root when
Alterna, makers of hair care products using hemp seed oil, stepped in
with a generous grant. "Alterna feels a responsibility to help support
America's farmers and affording them the opportunity to grow industrial
hemp for American-made products," said Mike Brady, president of Alterna'sProfessional
Hair Care Products.
"We
urge other hemp industrialists to be proactive and to offer private funding
for hemp test plots in states that will follow Hawaii's precedent - setting
lead," said Brady.
The language
suits this pioneer act. Live hemp seed, imported from Kenex Ltd. in Canada,
are now germinating in Hawaiian soil. It is an important first step to
bringing this plant back to its rightful place as one of America's valued
agricultural crops. Hawaii State Representative Cynthia Thielen was instrumental
in getting the legislation passed as it was her dedication and tenacity
for the last three years that guided this licensing.
Article
by: Laurie Scott
Clip from: Fiber Ethics Magazine, Winter 2000
LEGISLATION
WOULD LEGALIZE HEMP IN NEBRASKA
Hemp could
be seen alongside more traditional Nebraska crops in the future if a proposed
legislative bill is passed. Members of the Agriculture Committee on Tuesday
discussed LB1079, which would allow the cultivation of industrial hemp.
The bill
was introduced Jan. 7 by Sen. Ed Schrock of Elm Creek and says legal hemp
must contain no more than three-tenths of 1 percent of tetrahydrocannabinol
(THC), the chemical that can make pot smokers high.
"I'm
not interested in smoking this product; I'm interested in growing it,"
Schrock said. Currently, it is legal to buy and sell products made from
hemp, but it is illegal to grow it. Industrial hemp is good for the earth
because it requires little or no fertilizer or insecticide, he said.
The United
States is the only industrialized nation that does not allow the cultivation
of hemp, Schrock said. "Either we're right, and everyone else is
wrong, or everyone else is right, and we;re wrong," he said. Schrock
brought several items made of hemp for the committee members to examine.
"If my wife had more time, maybe she'd have made some brownies for
the committee," Schrock joked.
Members
of the Nebraska State Patrol expressed concern that the legalization of
industrial hemp would create problems with the enforcement of drug laws.
Currently, a sample suspected of containing marijuana must undergo three
tests, said John Dietrich, director of the Nebraska State Patrol crime
lab. These tests take about 30 minutes, and none of them tests the amount
of THC in the sample. If hemp were made legal, the lab would need to determine
whether the sample was marijuana or industrial hemp by testing the amount
of THC, Dietrich said. This additional test would take an extra two hours
per sample, and the lab would need to hire more chemists and purchase
more equipment, Dietrich said.
The benefits
of hemp far outweigh the initial setbacks, said Thuvan Ahrens, owner of
Solstice, a store that specializes in natural clothing and gifts. Solstice,
formerly Hemp Fields, 126 N. 13th St., offers many products that are made
from hemp: Clothing, paper, linens and books are just a few, Ahrens said.
"Uses for hemp are endless," she said.
Ahrens
said she imports many of her hemp products from Canada, Hungary and China.
Sometimes it takes a while for the goods to arrive because they get caught
up in customs, Ahrens said. "It would be so much easier if hemp could
be grown in the United States," she said.
The committee
has not voted on the bill and will decide later whether to advance it
to the floor for debate or kill it.
Clip from:
The Daily Nebraskan, Lincoln, NB, January 3, 2000
ILLINOIS
LAWMAKERS WOULD LEGALIZE HEMP GROWING
Some Illinois
lawmakers see industrial hemp as a key ingredient in Illinois' agricultural
future. The problem is, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency sees it as marijuana.
Once a
staple of the American colonies, hemp production was banned in 1937 by
the U.S. government because two illegal drugs, marijuana and hashish,
are obtained from hemp plants. Despite new interest in hemp's non-hallucinogenic
uses, the government's stance hasn't changed.
"There
is no such thing as growing hemp. You are growing marijuana," said
Terry Parham, acting chief of public affairs for the Drug Enforcement
Administration in Washington. "It's a misnomer. You are talking about
growing a controlled substance."
Legislators
argue that industrial hemp, which can be used to make rope, clothing and
paper, contains a negligible level of hallucinogens compared to marijuana.
They say it can be grown in controlled settings to prevent misuse of the
plant.
"It's
time to quit making it a joke; it isn't pot," said Rep. Mary K. O'Brien,
D-Coal City. "We're looking at serious issues facing Illinois farmers.
If this is a viable crop and grows well in Illinois, we need to get them
(DEA) to change the classification. There is a market, if we can produce
it."
State Rep.
Charles Hartke, D-Effingham, is co-sponsoring a measure in the Illinois
House that would urge Congress to acknowledge the difference between marijuana
and the agricultural crop known as industrial hemp. "It could save
a lot of family farms," Hartke said.
Sen. Evelyn
Bowles, D-Edwardsville, who also believes the state needs to pursue alternative
crops to keep residents from leaving its farms, is co-sponsoring a similar
measure. "We're going to move on this," said Bowles, who has
been promoting the merits of industrial hemp for several years. "We're
going to try to formulate some plans that will meet the approval of the
DEA."
The Illinois
Farm Bureau and similar organizations need to make a commitment to take
industrial hemp seriously, said O'Brien, who is a member of the House
agriculture committee. "I don't really see them pushing this as an
issue," she added. However, according to Tom Jett, Farm Bureau manager
in St. Clair and Madison counties, the organization changed its policy
in December and agreed to aggressively pursue actions that would require
the DEA to issue permits to U.S. producers allowing the production of
industrial hemp. "The farm economy being what it is -- not very good
-- we thought it was time to look at some alternative crops," Jett
said.
Joan Messina,
assistant director of the state Department of Agriculture, headed a task
force to research the issue for the House and Senate agriculture and conservation
committees. She told the House committee last week that recommendations
include the Legislature's need to differentiate between industrial hemp
and marijuana as well as to request a permit from the DEA for Illinois
to pursue research at Illinois universities. "Illinois' soil and
climate are very good for growing this crop," Messina said.
Last year,
16 states -- including Illinois -- introduced some form of legislation
for the study, research or production of industrial hemp. Only Hawaii
was granted a DEA permit to specifically study the cultivation of industrial
hemp, according to the task force report. That's because the production
of hemp, according to the U.S. Controlled Substances Act, is illegal.
And Parham, the DEA spokesman, said he doesn't see the law changing anytime
soon. "And as a police officer and a father of three, I don't want
it to," he said.
The biggest
obstacle facing the revitalization of the hemp industry, according to
Parham, lies in the plant's leaves that contain THC, which are left over
after processing. Hemp is made from the plant's stem. "It's a security
issue," he said.
Clip from:
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, St. Louis, Missouri; February 2, 2000
For more
information, contact: [email protected]
Website: http://www.postnet.com/postnet/stories.nsf/Home
GEORGIA
FARMERS CALL FOR INDUSTRIAL HEMP RESEARCH
Last month,
delegates at the annual meeting of the state's largest farm group, the
322,500-member Georgia Farm Bureau, approved a resolution calling for
the University of Georgia to study (industrial hemp)....Georgia farmers
are desperate for new crops because of government production cuts on tobacco,
two years of dry weather that wiped out some fields and low prices on
conventional commodities.
"We're
just saying it ought to be researched to see if it would be feasible for
our farmers to grow as an alternative crop," said Cecil Burk, the
Farm Bureau's legislative director in Macon. Burk said the Farm Bureau
will ask the university to identify hemp varieties that are suited to
Georgia's soils and climate and to determine if they could be grown profitably.
Clip from:
Elliott Minor, AP, Albany, Georgia, January 3, 2000
Back to top
U.S.
HAS HEMP INDUSTRY AT END OF ITS ROPE
London,
Ontario - When two London-area hemp processing companies opened their
doors and began signing contracts with growers two years ago, they expected
a few bumps along the road.
They knew
there'd be the day-to-day snafus that come with launching any new business.
There'd be law enforcement and Canadian government agencies to deal with,
such as Health Canada, given the novelty of their raw material and the
requirement that the plants they accepted from growers -- as well as the
products they shipped -- were virtually free of THC, the psychoactive
ingredient in marijuana. And there'd be the job of proving to skeptics
that hemp could again be a versatile, viable product in the international
marketplace -- a marketplace it would take time to build.
What they
didn't count on was the flip-flopping they've seen by a variety of regulatory
and enforcement agencies in the United States over the past six months
on what's legal for import into America and what's not. The waffling has
produced a big migraine for one of the two firms: Chatham-Kent processor
Kenex Ltd., which manufactures hemp fibre and seed products.
Last year,
Kenex and another firm, Delaware-based Hempline Inc., contracted for about
1,200 hectares of various varieties of hemp to be grown in southern Ontario
-- and there are far more growers willing to plant the crop than what
the two firms have acreage for. Agronomists check the growing plants in
mid-summer to ensure they don't exceed the 10-parts-per-million threshold
for THC set by Health Canada. Testers with the Canadian Food Inspection
Agency also do spot checks of fields.
Once the
fibrous stalks are harvested, processors such as Kenex and Hempline turn
it into a wide range of fibre products, seeds, meal and oils, which eventually
make their way into auto parts, textiles, animal bedding, carpets, bird
seed and food. In order for the products to enter the U.S., they must
meet strict standards for THC content.
Following
last summer's ideal growing conditions -- plenty of heat, with periodic
rains -- growers took in a bumper crop. Kenex and Hempline cranked up
production and began shipping to both domestic and foreign markets.
The THC
in the hemp plant is produced in its flowers. If the resin produced by
the plant isn?t completely cleaned off its seeds, those seeds can be contaminated
with trace amounts of THC. Processors such as Hempline, which deal only
with the stalks of certain hemp varieties, have had no problems with shipments,
says company president Geof Kime. For Kenex, however, it's been a different
story, characterized by a kind of moving target for THC levels.
Late last
summer, officials south of the border began to get jumpy. The U.S. Drug
Enforcement Agency (DEA) stopped an 18,000-kilogram Kenex shipment at
the border and ordered the company to recall more than a dozen additional
loads, claiming trace THC levels violated the 0.3-per-cent limit spelled
out in trade agreements. The DEA also threatened the Pain Court company
with penalties of $700,000.
Kenex president
Jean Laprise says the "seizure was clearly illegal (under) U.S. law,"
which spelled out tolerances for THC and the right of American companies
to import the material, despite the fact it remains illegal to grow hemp
in the U.S.
Kenex was
forced to stop shipping until the confusion was sorted out. The seized
load, meanwhile, sat in the U.S. awaiting a decision. DEA and U.S. Customs
eventually backed down, releasing the shipment and providing a verbal
promise not to seize any future shipments of hemp products.
A written
agreement Dec. 7 outlined the criteria under which hemp shipments would
be allowed into the U.S. Laprise says the deal was "very reasonable,
by everyone's standards." Part of the agreement, Laprise says, was
that Kenex had to waive whatever right it might have had to sue the U.S.
government for its losses. Kenex agreed.
Earlier
this month, however, the deal was rescinded by the Office of National
Drug Control Policy in Washington. It ordered U.S. Customs to issue a
Jan. 5 memorandum which made all hemp products containing any measurable
amount of THC subject to immediate seizure and confiscation.
"It's
the law that keeps changing from one agency to another &endash; the U.S.
Justice Department, U.S. Customs, the DEA," Laprise says.
U.S. importers,
meanwhile, are claiming that according to the federal Controlled Substances
Act, hemp seeds can be legally brought into the country as long as they
are sterilized to prevent growth -- no matter how much residual THC they
contain.
At issue
for both Canadian exporters and U.S. importers is the fact the industry
is being hurt by policy changes which are constantly in a state of flux.
More important, though, is the fact American enforcement agencies: the
DEA, U.S. Customs and the Office of National Drug Control Policy seem
to have rewritten the law on their own three times over the past six months
without ever involving the U.S. Congress, which, like Parliament in Canada,
makes the laws that agencies then enforce.
Laprise
says his company is working with others in the industry to get Agriculture
Canada and the Canadian embassy in Washington to iron out the wrinkles.
And Canadian agriculture officials say they'll stand by their farmers
and processors.
But at
the rate American enforcement agencies are rewriting the rules, it's best
to move quickly, before operations like Kenex go up in smoke.
Clip from:
The London Free Press, London, Ontario, Canada, January 29, 2000
For more
information, contact: [email protected]
Website: http://www.canoe.ca/LondonFreePress/home.html
Back to top
| 
