Finally, Some Justice!!

"Food Containing Hemp Remains Legal"

Tuesday, September 28, 2004 Posted: 12:24 PM EDT (1624 GMT)

SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP) -- Food products made with hemp will remain legal after the Justice Department declined to challenge a ruling that overturned a Bush administration ban, lawyers for the hemp industry said.

Monday night was the deadline for the government to challenge a federal appeals court's February decision that the United States cannot ban the domestic sale of hemp foods.

The appeals court decision was a victory for more than 200 companies that make products including energy bars, waffles, milk-free cheese and veggie burgers with the plant that contains only trace amounts of THC, the key ingredient in marijuana.

***My secret fetish for veggie burgers has been exposed***


Patrick Goggin, a San Francisco lawyer representing the Hemp Industries Association, said the government had informed the group's legal team that it would let Monday's deadline expire.

"They don't see this as a battle they can win," Goggin said.

Justice Department spokesman Charles Miller declined comment.

The San Francisco-based appeals court said that although the Drug Enforcement Administration has regulatory authority over marijuana, the agency did not have the authority to ban foods derived from hemp. The court said it was not possible to get high from products with only trace amounts of the mind-altering chemical.

Hemp is an industrial plant related to marijuana. Fiber from the plant long has been used to make paper, clothing, rope and other products. Its oil is found in body-care products such as lotion, soap and cosmetics.

***That's right, whoever's out there smokin' their body lotion needs to be locked up.***