On February 6, 2004, a three judge federal panel ruled unanimously that hemp foods are legal and safe to consume. Manufacturers and consumers of nutritious hemp food products are were quite pleased, but they had to wait to find out if they had really won the legal battle. On June 28th, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit denied the Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA's) petition for an En Banc rehearing, which allowed the Bush Administration until September 26th to appeal to the Supreme Court. By September 28th, it had become clear that the Bush Administration would not appeal the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals' February 6, 2004 decision in the Hemp Industries Association, et al v. DEA case. Three years after the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) issued a rule purporting to ban hemp food products, that law was clearly revoked..

"Removing the cloud the DEA put into the marketplace will spur a dramatic surge in the supply and consumption of healthy omega-3 rich hemp seed in America," says David Bronner, Chair of the HIA's Food and Oil Committee and President of Alpsnack/Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps. "This is a huge victory for the hemp industry. The Bush Administration decision not to appeal the Ninth Circuit's decision from earlier this year means the three-year-old legal battle over hemp seed products is finally over. The three-judge panel in the Ninth Circuit unanimously ruled that the DEA ignored the specific Congressional exemption in the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) that excludes hemp fiber, seed and oil from control along with poppy seeds. The Court viewed as insignificant and irrelevant harmless trace amounts of THC in hemp seed, just like harmless trace amounts of opiates in poppy seeds."
Alexis Baden-Mayer, Director of Government Affairs for Vote Hemp, says, "Right now the U.S. marketplace is supplied by hemp seed grown and processed in Canada and Europe. We will now work to convince Congress it is time for the U.S. to again allow American farmers to grow industrial hemp and participate in this lucrative growth market." Read more
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