The study, published this month in the Journal of Analytical Toxicology, was part of an initiative to assess the legitimacy of legal arguments by military personnel that failed marijuana drug tests resulted from consuming hemp products.
It tested 79 hemp products for the presence of Tetra Hydrocannabinol (THC), which can have an intoxicating effect.
The researchers concluded: “The amounts indicate that THC levels in currently marketed hemp products are significantly lower than in those products available before 2003 and reported in previous studies.”
The report said that improved manufacturing seed decontamination and processes, such as cold pressing and wash steps, have led to hemp products that contain much lower levels of THC than a decade ago.
Manufacturer of hemp produces Manitoba Harvest said the research “confounds a decades-long government initiative to prevent commerce of hemp products, and to ban hemp agriculture in the US under the misguided ‘drug-war’ campaign that tried to construe hemp as the same as marijuana”.
Hemp and marijuana are both varieties of the Cannabis sativa plant, and have thus often been associated. However, the plant has many different varieties, and while marijuana is high in THC and low in the antipsychoactive cannabinoid (CBD), hemp is low in THC and high in CBD.
Hemp seed contains 25 percent protein, making it second only to soybean for protein content. The seed is also said to be high in essential fatty acids such as omega-3.
It is used in nutritious products such as cereals, protein powders, vegetarian burgers and nutrition bars.
Hemp foods became legal in the US in 2001, but production of the seed remains illegal across most states. This has stimulated Canadian production of the seed - the US buys about 90 percent of its crop and derivatives, according to Agriculture and Agri-food Canada.
The study
In the study, carried out by scientists from the US armed forces, THC analysis was separated into two groups, a liquid–liquid or solid–liquid extraction, depending upon the product being tested.
Results found that THC concentrations ranged from nil to 117.5 micrograms (0.0001175g) of THC per 1g of material. Marijuana, on the other hand, has an average THC concentration of between 0.3 and 5 percent.
The study also found that products with an aqueous base, such as beers and teas, were found to have much lower limits of detection (2.5 nanograms per milliliter).
No THC was detected in 58 percent of the products from the first group and 86 percent of the products from group two.
Hemp regulations
The debate surrounding the growing of hemp and its use for food and drink with health benefits has been ongoing for some years now, resulting in many law cases up in the US.
In 2004, the Hemp Industries Association won a lawsuit against the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in a case that lasted two and a half years.
The US Court of Appeals decided to permanently block DEA regulations that attempted to ban some nutritious hemp foods.
According to Manitoba Harvest, US sales of hemp foods grew by more than 55 percent from December 2006 to December 2007, as they gained more recognition of their health benefits. The company added that in its own activities, sales had “thrived” since the court decision.
However, the US government still fights against the legalization of hemp agriculture.
Mike Fata, president and co-founder of Manitoba Harvest, said: “It is frustrating that one agency of the US government continues to wage a war against industrial hemp claiming that its the same as marijuana, and yet at the same time they are doing research demonstrating how it does not contain significant levels of THC.”
In February this year, an appeal was lodged to overturn the ban on growing commercial hemp in North Dakota.
The legal challenge was made by two state farmers after their original lawsuit to end the DEA’s ban on growing industrial hemp was dismissed.
Source
Journal of Analytical ToxiciologyVolume 32, No 6, July/August, p428-432“Tetrahydrocannabinol Content of Commercially Available Hemp Products”Authors: Justin Holler, Thomas Bosy, Christopher Dunkley, Barry Levine, Marilyn Past, and Aaron Jacobs