The Drug Enforcement Administration is moving forward with efforts to define certain hemp products as illegal under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). According to proposed regulations published recently in the Federal Register, any substance – including hemp foods, seeds, or oil – that tests positive for trace levels of THC shall be subject to the CSA and criminally prohibited under federal law.
According to a letter by the Hemp Industries Association (HIA) opposing the proposal, “Natural trace amounts of THC pose no health risk; hemp foods and oil products containing trace amounts of THC … do not contain enough … to trigger a false positive drug test; and the planned rules … are outside the scope of the Controlled Substances Act.”
Hemp-based health products, such as hemp seed oil, are sold commercially in nutrition stores across the nation and consumed for their high concentrations of amino and fatty acids. Some of these products occasionally contain trace amounts of THC depending on how thoroughly manufacturers have cleaned the hemp seed’s outer hull. Canada’s government requires ingestible hemp products test below ten micrograms per gram. The proposed U.S. regulations would be zero-tolerant.
Many believe that the proposed ban is in reaction to concerns by the drug testing industry that legal hemp foods could hinder efforts to identify marijuana smokers. “All products that cause a positive THC urinalysis must be removed from commerce or we will be forced by the courts to stop testing for marijuana,” an industry journal opined in 1997. “The solution is to … amend the [law] … to … remove [these] products … and make their use illegal.”
For more information, please contact Allen St. Pierre, NORML Foundation Executive Director, at (202) 483-8751.
