Still Can’t Smoke It, but Court Says You Can Eat It

It’s not just for brownies anymore.

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled Monday that consumers can continue to buy granola, energy bars, salad dressing and other foods made with the seeds or oil of hemp, marijuana’s industrial cousin.

The court said there were flaws in the way the Drug Enforcement Agency in 2001 banned comestibles containing tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC. So hemp in food still is legal until the ban’s merits are decided.

Hemp does contain THC (along with healthful vitamin E and omega-3 fatty acids) but advocates say that what ends up in food isn’t enough to create a high. The DEA says there’s no way of knowing.

The market for hemp foods is more than $6 million.

“You’d have to eat literally hundreds of pounds to get an effect from it,” said Paul Gaylon of Aptos-based Herbal Products & Development. “And that’s just not possible.”

Associated Press was used in compiling this report.