The Hemp Industries Association (HIA) in the US said it was confident that the Court of Appeals would uphold its claim that the Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA's) attempt to ban nutritious hemp foods was illegal and should be overturned.
Lawyers for the HIA argued the case before the appeals court judges last week, and a final decision is expected within the next three to nine months. In the meantime, hemp foods will remain on stores shelves.
David Bronner, chair of the HIA's Food and Oil Committee, stated: "Hemp food companies are focused on promoting hemp seed's exceptional nutritional profile and continuing the phenomenal market growth for their products. We're confident that the court will permanently invalidate DEA's rule."
In October last year the DEA issued a rule which made hemp foods containing harmless traces of naturally-occurring THC immediately illegal under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) of 1970. Because trace infinitesimal THC in hemp seed is non-psychoactive and insignificant, the US Congress exempted non-viable hemp seed and oil from control under the CSA, just as Congress exempted poppy seeds from the CSA, although they contain trace opiates otherwise subject to control.
Independent studies and reviews conducted by foreign governments have confirmed that trace THC found in the increasingly popular hemp foods cannot cause psychoactivity or other health effects, or result in a confirmed positive drug test for marijuana, even when unrealistically large amounts of hemp seed and oil are consumed daily, the HIA said.
"Hemp seeds and oil are as likely to be "abused" as poppy seed bagels for their trace opiate content, or fruit juices because of their trace alcohol content. Yet, DEA has not tried to ban poppy seed bagels despite their trace opiates that have interfered with workplace drug testing, which hemp foods do not."
Despite the increased use of hemp in products ranging from paper to car parts to ice cream, US farmers have not benefited because the federal government does not permit non-psychoactive industrial hemp cultivation. Hemp product sales in the US are worth more than $150 million a year, but all the products sold there are made from hemp imported from Canada, Europe and China.
However, fourteen states have passed hemp legislation, demonstrating hemp's legitimacy as an agro-industrial crop, and the HIA is hopeful that if the DEA's ruling is definitively overruled that more states will follow suit.