May 7, 1998, Camp Pendleton, CA: For the second time in six months, a jury overturned a military court martial after hearing evidence that hemp oil may test positive for marijuana on a urine test. The decision acquits Lance Corporal Kevin Boyd of charges that he smoked marijuana. "There is little doubt that the ingestion of some legal hemp oil products can test positive for marijuana on a urine test shortly after consumption," NORML Publications Director Paul Armentano said. 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 a December 1997 acquittal of U.S. Air Force Master Sergeant Spencer Gaines, prompted some within the drug testing industry to call on Congress to amend federal law to prohibit the possession and sale of hemp products. Boyd's attorney, Captain Todd Wallace, said that his client's acquittal could pose serious trouble for the military's random drug testing program.
"It's going to be tough on the government [prosecutors] because anyone who 'pops' on a drug test will argue this [defense,]" he said.
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.

Candi Penn, Board of Directors - Secretary
HIA - Hemp Industries Assoc.
PO Box 1080, Occidental, CA 95465, USA
1-500-HIA-HEMP & 707 874-3648
FAX: 707 874-1104
Email: info@thehia.org
Websites: The HIA and Hempstores