In a major victory for the hemp industry, the Drug Enforcement Agency has lifted a recent hemp seed embargo and is now allowing sterilized seeds from Canada into the United States.
In August, the DEA instructed U.S. Customs to stop the importation of all hemp seed products into the U.S. The first seizure was a 53,000 pound load of sterilized birdseed imported by Kenex Ltd. That shipment remains in Customs’ storage, pending an agreement between Kenex and the DEA.
Since THC is considered a controlled substance under U.S. federal law, the DEA initially took a hard line stance on seeds containing as low as 14 parts per million THC. U.S. Customs has now been instructed to allow shipments of hemp seed products containing trace amounts of THC to enter the country.
“The DEA tried to expand their jurisdiction by a twisted interpretation of the Controlled Substances Act, but their attempt to change the rules threatened to destroy the Canadian farmers and industries who invested in this remarkable crop and totally violated the NAFTA treaty,” said Don Wirtshafter of the Ohio Hempery. “In the end, the DEA had to back down due to industry pressure and high level complaints from the Canadian Embassy in Washington. Hopefully, now, the hemp industry can pick up the pieces and recover from this low blow.”
“We got the zero tolerance policy reversed, and basically got the DEA to abide by US law,” said Jean Laprise, Kenex owner. “We accomplished our goal and are looking forward to doing a bigger business in the future.”
For more information, please contact Don Wirtshafter of the Ohio Hempery at (740) 662-4367; Jean Laprise of Kenex at (519) 351-9922; Tom Dean Esq., NORML Foundation Litigation Director at (202) 483-8751
