Military Judge To Rule On Third Hemp Seed Oil Case In Seven Months

June 18, 1998, New Orleans, LA: A military administrative law judge will rule shortly on whether to acquit a Coast Guard engineer of charges that he smoked marijuana after hearing evidence that the consumption of legal hemp oil may cause and individual to test positive for the drug on a urine test. The case marks the third time in seven months that a military serviceman has raised the "hemp oil defense" to challenge a positive drug test.

Both prior rulings found in favor of the defendants.

Christopher Dresser, 38, said that the regular consumption of a hemp seed oil nutritional supplement caused him to test positive for marijuana on a November drug test. He denies that he smoked marijuana.

"There is little doubt that the ingestion of some legal hemp oil products will cause one to test positive on a urine test shortly after consumption," explained NORML Publications Director Paul Armentano. A series of studies conducted this past summer and reported in the Journal of Analytical Toxicology indicated that regular users of the oil may test positive for low levels of THC. Those studies, along with two recent acquittals of military officers, prompted some within the drug testing industry to call on Congress to amend federal law to prohibit the possession and sale of hemp products.

NORML board member Don Wirtshafter, Esq. of The Ohio Hempery, who has followed this issue closely, criticized any forced regulation on the American hemp industry based upon concern from drug testing companies. "This is not a health issue," he said. "To me the onus is on the drug testing industry and the employers. They are the ones putting out a faulty product that is not able to differentiate between the legal consumption of hemp products and the illegal consumption of drugs."

Hemp 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.

For more information, please contact either Paul Armentano or Allen St. Pierre of The NORML Foundation @ (202) 483-8751. Don Wirtshafter may be contacted @ (740) 662-4367.