>Sender: >To: >X-Original-Message-ID: <053701bf0df0$4b7823a0$9acf69cf@pacbell.net> >From: "Peter McWilliams" >Subject: Jeez! >Date: Sun, 3 Oct 1999 15:40:29 -0700 >X-Mozilla-Status: 8001 >X-Mozilla-Status2: 00000000 > > >Pubdate: Sun, 03 Oct 1999 >Source: New York Times (NY) >Copyright: 1999 The New York Times Company >Contact: letters@nytimes.com >Website: http://www.nytimes.com/ >Forum: http://www10.nytimes.com/comment/ >Author: Christopher S. Wren >Related: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n1074.a07.html/ >MAP: Topical News Shortcut: >http://www.mapinc.org/hemp.htm > >BIRD FOOD IS A CASUALTY OF THE U.S. WAR ON DRUGS > >What do 40,000 pounds of birdseed have in common with America's war on >drugs? Nothing, says Jean Laprise, an Ontario farmer who shipped the >birdseed to his American customers only to have it seized when it >crossed the U.S.-Canadian border. > >Everything, say the U.S. government and its critics, but for >altogether different reasons. > >The birdseed, nearly 20 tons of it, has been locked in a Detroit >warehouse since Aug. 9, when it was impounded by the United States >Customs Service. The reason: the seed consists of sterilized seeds >processed from industrial hemp. > >Laprise has found himself mired in one of the more bizarre episodes of >Washington's campaign to curb illicit drug use. Hemp and marijuana are >different varieties of the same plant species, Cannabis sativa, though >the government rarely distinguishes between them. > >"They say it's a tractor trailer full of drugs," Laprise said. "We say >it's a tractor trailer full of birdseed." > >But while smoking marijuana delivers a psychoactive high, smoking hemp >gives only a headache. Tetrahydrocannabinol, known as THC, the >psychoactive component in marijuana, usually varies between 4 and 20 >percent of a leaf. Industrial hemp has a THC below 1 percent. > >The birdseed seized in Detroit had a THC content of barely .0014 >percent, which wouldn't give a bird a buzz. > >John Roulac, the president of Nutiva, a company in Sebastapol, Calif., >that buys hemp seeds from Laprise's operation for food products, said >that seeds themselves have no THC, and whatever gets detected comes >from contact with leaves of the hemp plant. > >Roulac said the amount of THC was "like an olive pit in a railroad >boxcar." > >Laprise, whose company, Kenex Ltd., grows and processes hemp with the >approval of the Canadian government, said that "all of our other >products have no detectable level of THC. The only shipment with any >detectable amount was the birdseed, and it was really nothing." > >Though the U.S. government today views hemp with suspicion, it was >historically an agricultural staple used in everything from ropes and >sails to clothing and the first American flag supposedly sewn by Betsy >Ross. It has been virtually illegal since 1937. > >Last year, Canada declared hemp a legitimate crop and has granted >growers' licenses for 35,000 acres. Britain, France and Germany also >have commercial hemp industries. Hawaii, North Dakota and Minnesota >passed laws approving hemp this year as a crop for hard-pressed >farmers. > >Kenex's customers, who snap up Laprise's hemp seeds and fibers for >everything from food for animals and people to beauty products and >horse bedding, have been outraged by the seizure in Detroit. > >"What in the heck are they doing arresting birdseed?" said Anita >Roddick, the British founder of the Body Shop, whose organic hair- and >skin-care products have used hemp oil produced by Laprise. > >"It's so Monty Pythonesque," Ms. Roddick said, alluding to the antic >comedians who mocked life's absurdities. "They're chasing around >bloody birdseed. It's making the D.E.A. look stupid." > >Federal law enforcement officials defended the seizure. D.E.A. >spokesman Terry Parham said, "Our understanding is there is no legal >way for hemp seed to have come in that contains any quantity of THC." >He explained that no product containing THC could be imported except >by a company registered with the D.E.A., and that no companies are >registered. > >Drug-policy critics like Ethan Nadelmann, the president of the >Lindesmith Center, a New York group that advocates a more liberal drug >policy, reacted to the birdseed seizure with glee, contending that it >shows how dumb the war on drugs can get. > >Laprise said the Customs Service also ordered him to recall his >earlier exports to the United States of hemp oil, horse bedding, >animal feed and granola bars, or face more than $500,000 in fines. He >cannot comply, he said, because the products have been used or >consumed. > >Meanwhile, a report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture assessing >the potential of hemp growing has made the rounds of the federal >government. The report's beige cover is stamped "Classified." > >"I can't figure out why they classified this," said a government >official who let a reporter take a peek. The study said there was a >limited niche market for hemp products, like Laprise's birdseed. > > >================================================================ > >This message is sent to you because you are subscribed to > the mailing list . >To unsubscribe, E-mail to: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------