Foods made with hemp, the non-psychoactive “cousin” of cannabis, cannot be regulated by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), a federal court in San Francisco ruled Friday. The three-judge panel concluded that, since "non-psychoactive hemp products" are not on the DEA’s list of dangerous drugs, the Administration has no jurisdiction over their sale.

In 2001, the DEA ordered a ban on foods containing hemp, saying that the products violated the federal Controlled Substances Act. A court granted a motion to stay, however, after the hemp industry argued that the DEA's ban violated administrative procedures and that the ban would cause needless irreparable harm to the industry without cause or sufficient evidence to say that the products present any threat to the public. This latest ruling affirms that the DEA cannot regulate the product because it is not a controlled substance.

Hemp is easy and inexpensive to grow and can be made into a variety of everyday products – paper, fiber, food, and fuel. Though both it and marijuana are derived from the plant species Cannabis sativa L., hemp contains only trace amounts of marijuana’s psychoactive ingredient (THC). This amount is comparable to the amount of opium contained in poppy seeds – a popular ingredient in bagels and muffins. Hemp seeds, rich in omega fatty, are increasingly used in natural food products like corn chips, nutrition bars, hummus, nondairy milks, breads, waffles, and cereals.

In the last few years, the hemp foods industry has exploded in size from less than $1 million a year to over $7 million in retail sales. David Bronner, chairman of a hemp trade association committee and principal of Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps, told the Washington Post that the “ruling is really going to blow things open, really open up the marketplace.”