|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
 |
Frankfort, KY -- Rick Paul pointed at a piece of raw steak on a light blue ceramic plate in his Frankfort diner. ``That steak was frozen in May and look at it,'' he said. ``You can eat that and it'll taste like it was cut fresh yesterday.'' More important than an extended shelf-life, said Paul, the beef, cut from hemp-fed cattle, can be eaten without fear of flunking a drug test. This week at Rick's White Light Diner, the Kentucky Hemp Growers Cooperative Association released the results of a test that showed hemp food products sold at the Bridge Street diner are safe to eat. The results contradicted information Frankfort city employees got in September from their Nashville drug-testing company. Consultants for National Safety Alliance said some hemp items contained small amounts of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, which could lead to a positive urinalysis for drug-tested workers, although that was held unlikely. The association is pushing for the ability to grow and process hemp in Kentucky instead of purchasing it from Canada or other countries where it is grown legally. It sponsored a Hemp Banquet in December where six people chowed down on a typical meal of meats, vegetables and beer that was either made or cooked with hemp seed, hemp meal or hemp oil. Just before the meal and after the meal, the participants gave urine samples for a drug test. Helen Spencer, owner of Forward Edge Associates, a Lexington drug-testing agency, sent the samples to Premier Analytical Laboratories in Texas. The result: all six were THC-negative. `This study helps us promote the product and hopefully gives people some comfort,'' said Andy Graves, association president. ``We dispelled a myth. We're glad we can gloat.'' Copyright 1999 Lexington Herald-Leader In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 and The Berne Convention on Literary and Artistic Works, Article 10, news clippings are made available without profit for research and educational purposes. |
||||||||||||||||||
