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opinion:
our view
DEA
imbeciles trying to ban hemp oil from food products
The war on drugs is reaching new depths of depravity as the
Drug Enforcement Administration is going to federal appeals
court trying to ban all food products that are made with hemp.
A small amount
of body care and food products, mostly snack foods, are made
with hemp seed oil.
The government
is meeting resistance to its new policy. Monday, the DEA met
the hemp industry in the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The DEA is not only trying to ban food products containing
hemp but is also trying to strip doctors of their licenses
for recommending marijuana to patients.
Hemp is a plant
similar to the illegal drug marijuana and contains extremely
small amounts of the psychoactive substance THC. Aside from
oil, hemp fibers have been used for hundreds of years to make
rope, cloth and paper. It was even a popular commodity during
colonial America. The amount of THC in hemp is so small that
it can have no effects on anyone who ingests it nor will it
show up on drug tests.
What's next, poppy
seed muffins? Rumor has it, poppy seeds may show up on a drug
test as opium.
In court, DEA attorney
Daniel Dormont said the government banned food made with hemp
in October because "there's no way of knowing" whether
products may get consumers high.
The DEA is barking
up the wrong tree, trying to rid the world of drugs by ordering
law abiding producers to destroy all pretzels, snack bars
and other food stuffs that contain small amounts of hemp.
Even worse is the DEA's attempt to overturn the choice made
by the people of California to allow certain patients to use
medicinal marijuana.
Marijuana is not
nearly as dangerous a drug as cocaine or heroin. It is not
even as addictive or dangerous as alcohol and tobacco. Even
if hemp products could get a person high, which they can't,
it still shouldn't be anyone's business if someone gets a
little high. The DEA is suspect in trying to limit people
from possibly getting high when at the same time there is
no way that the people could even be hurt.
Yet, the DEA is
persistent in trying to strip away at the civil liberties
of American citizens and manufacturers to use marijuana and
hemp. Attacking the American people in this manner is wrong.
The DEA is much more worried about people getting high and
having fun than it is about people hurting themselves.
We feel that the
Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals must strike down the DEA's
disjointed policy post haste. We can't allow the government
to have so much control that it will try and limit what kind
of oils go into food or punish doctors for using better judgement.
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