Nutiva® Outgrows Headquarters, Moves to San Francisco Bay Area

Press Release
Source: marketwatch.com

Leading Organic Superfood Brand Already Giving Back to New Community

OXNARD, Calif., June 12, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Nutiva®, the world's leading brand of organic hemp foods, coconut oil, and chia seeds, announced today that on September 1, 2012, it will move its corporate headquarters from Oxnard, in Southern California, to Point Richmond, in the San Francisco Bay Area. Having outgrown its home base due to an enormous rise in product sales over the last several years, Nutiva will plant roots in a 200,000-square-foot building--ten times larger than its current locale.

The move comes amid increased mainstream market demand for organic superfoods, doubling Nutiva's sales over the past 90 days on top of a 42 percent annual growth rate since 2005. Inc. Magazine has named Nutiva one of the fastest growing companies in America for the last three years in a row.

"With the surge of demand for Nutiva's organic superfoods, we needed to expand our headquarters to prepare to meet the projected growth," said Nutiva founder and CEO John W. Roulac. "Point Richmond is an ideal location for us, providing ample space for stocking product and increasing our team."

The Bay Area is a popular location for other brands in the market, having the highest concentration of organic food companies in the world. Nutiva's new headquarters is centrally located, has rail car access, and is only 16 miles from the Port of Oakland, the most central West Coast port. The new locale will allow Nutiva to set up a state-of-the art high-speed manufacturing facility and also expand its private label business.

Nutiva is adding 50 new employees to its team, including a group of seasoned executives who have previous experience with such top brands as Amy's, Spectrum Naturals, Calistoga Water, Real Goods Solar, and the Audubon Society.

Reaffirming its commitment to giving back to community, Nutiva is partnering with Common Vision to plant a fruit tree orchard at every one of the 25 public schools in Richmond. Common Vision has already planted 5,000 fruit trees at over 200 public schools throughout California.

"We are thrilled for the company's move to Richmond, and to work with them to grow thousands of pounds of fresh organic fruit for the youth in this town," said Common Vision Director Leo Buc.

Additionally, Nutiva is a long-time supporter of the Farmer Veteran Coalition and donates 1 percent of its sales to worthy sustainable-agriculture projects. This year Nutiva is on track to give away $400,000.

Nutiva's new headquarters will be located at 213 W. Cutting Boulevard in Point Richmond, California. For more information, please visit: www.nutiva.com or follow the company on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/Nutiva .

About Nutiva®

Nutiva is dedicated to a healthy and sustainable world, demonstrating its mission to nourish people and planet by using delicious organic ingredients, enriching the soil, and donating 1 percent of sales to sustainable-agriculture groups. Founded in 1999, Nutiva is the world's best-selling brand of nutritious organic hemp foods, extra-virgin coconut oil, and chia seeds. Its products are offered by 15,000 retailers in the United States, Canada, and the European Union, including Whole Foods, Sprouts, Vitamin Shoppe, GNC, Publix, Safeway, Loblaws, and Amazon.com.

Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap CEO Has Hemp Protest Cut Short By Police With Power Saw

Source: huffingtonpost.com

WASHINGTON -- David Bronner had been camped out in a steel cage in front of Lafayette Park for almost three hours before a truck full of firemen came to remove him forcibly with a power saw.

The long-haired president of Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps, a top-selling natural soap chain based in Escondido, Calif., was holding court in an 64-square-foot cage to draw attention to the federal prohibition on growing industrial hemp, a policy which fails to distinguish between oilseed and fiber varieties of cannabis.

For Bronner, that means spending over $100,000 a year importing from Canadian farmers the hemp oil he'd rather be buying domestically. "Obama has promised a rational approach to policies," he said into a microphone hooked up to his cage. "So far as president he has blown off the U.S. hemp industry."

More than a dozen members of the U.S. Park Police stood outside Bronner's cage Monday morning, trying to cut the metal with giant red clippers. They then called a tow truck that was unable to move the cage, and at one point threatened to arrest HuffPost for stepping into the street to take a photo.

Inside the cage with Bronner were a dozen industrial hemp plants, which, Bronner said, all contained less than 0.3 percent THC, in accordance with Canadian regulations and had no potential use as a drug. He used an oil press in the cage to make fresh hempseed oil, passing out oil-smeared bread through the bars as he informed passersby of the high amounts of nutritious omega-3 fatty acids it contained. (HuffPost was not there in time to sample the bread.)

"The industrial hemp plants I am harvesting and processing into oil cannot produce a high of any kind, but according to the Obama administration, I'm in possession of approximately 10 pounds of marijuana,” said Bronner. "President Obama's U.S. attorney who handles drug cases in Washington, D.C., will not be able to prove my hemp has any more drug value than a poppyseed bagel.”

The action comes after Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) on Thursday introduced an amendment to the farm bill that would allow farmers to grow industrial hemp.

The legislation would exclude industrial hemp from the definition of "marihuana," thereby allowing hemp farming to be regulated by state permitting programs, bypassing the federal government's long-standing prohibition of marijuana.

A sister bill, H.R. 1831, was introduced in the House earlier this session by Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas).

Raw Video: Hemp Protest Arrest Near White House

Source: youtube.com

Published on Jun 11, 2012 by AssociatedPress

Police arrested David Bronner of Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps outside the White House Monday after he locked himself and several hemp plants inside a cage. Bronner was protesting federal policy that prevents farmers from growing industrial hemp. (June 11)

Legal hemp could net big money for farmers

By Andrea Suozzo
Source: addisonindependent.com

MIDDLEBURY — At a meeting in Middlebury last Wednesday evening, the crowd was bullish on hemp as a cash crop.

Netaka White, bio-energy program director at the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund, told some 15 people gathered at the Addison County Regional Planning Commission that by his rough calculations American farmers could make as much as $3,800 per acre of industrial hemp, selling it for use as food, fiber, building material and bio-fuel. That, he said, is a higher yield than grain crops like corn and wheat, and results in part from the ability to use every part of the plant, from the seed to the stalk.

The catch: White’s calculations are made based on the prices farmers can get for the crop in Canada or Europe, since industrial hemp is illegal to grow in the U.S. under the federal Controlled Substances Act.

Though Vermont passed a bill in 2008 allowing the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets to oversee hemp production within the state —supplying seeds and conducting field inspections — that system will not go into effect unless hemp is exempted from the Controlled Substances Act. Vermont is one of eight states to pass similar legislation.

White said industrial hemp bears none of the psychoactive traits of its cannabinoid cousin, marijuana. While levels of THC, the primary chemical that causes psychoactive reactions in marijuana, are limited to between 0.1 and 0.3 percent in most industrial hemp-producing countries, a 2009 United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime report states that THC levels in most marijuana range from 5 to 20 percent.

Additionally, said White, when the two types of cannabis plant are allowed to cross-pollinate, THC levels in the marijuana become diluted and the resulting drug is less potent. That means industrial hemp would be unlikely to provide a cover for a marijuana-growing operation.

White said that aside from the raw materials the hemp plant provides, its deep roots break up clotted soils and its dense growth patterns naturally kill weeds; as a result it needs no herbicide to grow and is a potential crop for field rotation with corn and other grains.

FEDERAL REFORM

For now, companies within the U.S. that use hemp seeds, hemp cloth or hemp fiber must import the plant from outside of the country — primarily from Canada.

Tom Simon of Hempfully Green, a Putney company that makes hemp building materials and insulation, said that importing the raw materials makes their product much more expensive than it could be.

“If we could grow it here, the cost would be considerably less,” said Simon.

Rob Kidd of the Montpelier-based advocacy group Rural Vermont, which hosted Wednesday’s meeting, reported that the organization’s lobbying on the hemp issue has mostly moved from the state to the federal level at this point, given widespread support for industrial hemp by state politicians.

“We’ve seen three straight legislatures that have overwhelmingly supported hemp,” said Kidd.

In Congress, Kidd said Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., has confirmed support on the industrial hemp issue — he cosponsored the Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2011, which is still in committee. Now the organization has set its sights on Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., as a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee and chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Leahy spokesperson David Carle said the senator does not yet have an official statement on the matter.

“This issue intersects with a variety of other policy areas, and he’s gathering information to be able to soundly evaluate it,” said Carle.

Last Thursday, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., introduced an amendment to the Farm Bill currently working its way through the Senate that would exempt industrial hemp from the definition of marijuana on the federal books. The bill, which will determine the next five years of federal farm and food policy, reached the Senate floor for debate and amendment on Thursday, and will likely see extended discussion before it moves from the Senate floor.

Despite Rural Vermont’s uphill battle to reform federal regulations, White said these restrictions against hemp are actually fairly recent, dating to the late 1940s — though hemp production was briefly restarted during World War II, when the government realized it had a serious shortage of rope.

Before that time, hemp was a major crop of the United States. Its components were used to make clothing, canvas and rope, and George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were both hemp farmers. Betsy Ross, said White, crafted the first American flag out of scraps of hemp clothing.

White comes to his research on the hemp industry through firsthand experience: he ran a hemp bag and gear company that in 1998 transitioned to the Greenfields Mercantile shop on Main Street in Middlebury. That shop and café sold products made of hemp and other eco-friendly clothing. Though the store closed its doors in 2004, White’s interest in hemp production and trade remained.

While White said he cannot predict for certain the exact yields that hemp fields in Vermont would return, a 1998 University of Vermont viability study found approximately 100,000 acres of land prime for a hemp crop, and about 200,000 marginal acres.

White said he’s optimistic that, if federal law were amended, Vermont farmers could stand at the forefront of hemp production nationally.

“Vermont can lead the way,” he said.

Reporter Andrea Suozzo is at andrea@addisonindependent.com.

Hemp Harvest Protest in Front of White House

Press Release
Source: marketwatch.com

WASHINGTON, June 11, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- CEO Bets President Can't Prove His Hemp Plants are Marijuana

American Farmers Continue to be Shut Out of Booming Global Industry

David Bronner, protesting for the decriminalization of growing industrial hemp 

David Bronner, CEO of Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps, America's top-selling natural brand of soap and an importer of more than 20 tons of hemp oil per year from Canadian farmers is staging an action at the White House today to protest Federal policy that prevents U.S. farmers from growing industrial hemp. Mr. Bronner has explained that he is waging a "beer bet" with President Obama that the 12 industrial hemp plants growing in soil he is harvesting today inside a large secure steel cage on H St. at 16th St. NW Washington, DC are not marijuana and have no drug value. Grown from Canadian industrial hemp seed, the plants per Canadian regulations contain less than 0.3% THC and have no potential use as a medicinal or recreational drug.

The hemp oil pressed from hemp seed contains high amounts of the omega-3 Essential Fatty Acid, which the American diet is chronically deficient in and doctors traditionally recommend certain types of fish to obtain. In Dr. Bronner's soaps, the hemp oil imparts smooth lather and less drying after-feel. Fifth generation soap-maker David Bronner, equipped with a hand-powered oil press, is harvesting the hemp seed from the plants and pressing fresh hemp oil, which he will serve on hemp bread to the public and media, in full view of the White House. Mr. Bronner is enclosed with the plants and equipment in a locked, steel bar cage, to prevent interruption by police until the entire harvesting and pressing process is complete.

Follow David Bronner's hemp civil disobedience from inside his steel cage at the White House http://www.ustream.tv/channel/hempaction . A second video feed from outside is available at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/hempaction2 .

"The industrial hemp plants I am harvesting and processing into oil cannot produce a high of any kind, but according to the Obama Administration I'm in possession of approximately 10 pounds of marijuana," says David Bronner, President and CEO of the California based Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps. Mr. Bronner says, "President Obama's US Attorney who handles drug cases in Washington, DC will not be able to prove my hemp has any more drug value than a poppy seed bagel. The Obama position on hemp is not science-based or good for the US economy. We've lobbied and campaigned for over a decade and feel abandoned by our President who as an Illinois state legislator voted twice for hemp cultivation."

Bronner adds, "I expected more from President Obama. The President can simply direct the Department of Justice to respect industrial hemp grown pursuant to existing state hemp programs, such as North Dakota's. Everyone is sick and tired of America's bankrupt policy on hemp that forces our company to send well over a hundred thousand dollars every year to Canadian farmers. I had hoped that President Obama would not succumb to drug warriors' hysteria regarding hemp. I really don't know what else to do to get our 'Chief Law Enforcement Officer' to take a rational science-based approach to hemp policy in this country."

Mr. Bronner's protest is a direct action in response to a recent White House statement falsely conflating non-drug industrial hemp with marijuana. This intentional conflation by White House officials is used to justify a policy that prevents American farmers from growing industrial hemp, even under existing state licensing programs. Information on the new regressive White House hemp policy can be found here: http://votehemp.com/alerts/vote_hemp_alert-20120503.html

Mr. Bronner is in possession of laboratory tests that confirm the psychoactive chemical THC in the plants he is harvesting is below 0.3%, which is the global standard for the maximum allowed to ensure that hemp cannot be utilized for any drug purposes. "Industrial hemp is an agricultural crop grown on large farms in Canada, Europe, and China, which all prohibit marijuana cultivation and their police have no problem distinguishing agricultural hemp," says Bronner. "Farmers in other countries are laughing all the way to the bank as the US is the biggest market on the planet for healthy hemp seed and fiber products with retail sales in 2011 of over $400 million. The US government should get out of the way and allow American farmers and producers to cultivate and capitalize on hemp's many product applications and markets."

Last week Senator Ron Wyden introduced, and Senator Rand Paul co-sponsored, an amendment to S. 3240, the Agricultural reauthorization bill, that clarifies that industrial hemp is an "agricultural crop" that should not be considered the same as "marijuana." "Senator Wyden's effort is truly commendable, but in my view the existing prohibition of hemp farming stems less from current law than the deliberate misinterpretation of existing law by regressive drug warriors entrenched in the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Office of National Drug Control Policy and other high level members of the Obama Administration," says Bronner.

SOURCE Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps

Tommy Chong claims he will beat cancer using hemp oil

By By MIKE LARKIN
Source: dailymail.co.uk

'I'm going to cure it with cannabis!' Stoner comedy star Tommy Chong claims he will beat cancer using hemp oil

He shot to fame as one half of comedy stoner duo Cheech and Chong.

And now comedian Tommy Chong has revealed he is treating his early stage prostate cancer with hemp oil.

He revealed his condition during an interview on CNN in which he discussed the legalisation of marijuana.

The actor said: 'I've got prostate cancer, and I'm treating it with hemp oil, with cannabis.

'So it means a lot more to me than just being able to smoke a joint without being arrested.'

The 74-year-old described the cancer as 'a slow stage one (that I've) had for a long time.'

He said that he was drug free for about three years, during which time he began having prostate-related problems.

Tommy added: 'So I know it had nothing to do with cannabis. Cannabis is a cure.'

He also said he does not smoke marijuana, which he claims he quit about a year ago 'for health reasons' to treat his prostate cancer. 

Instead he ingests the hemp oil at night, so I won't be woozy all day. I'm taking it as a medicine.'

Tommy explained he first noticed symptoms almost eight years ago while serving a nine-month sentence at Taft Correctional Institution in California, for selling mail-order bongs.

Blaming the gaol for the disease, he said: 'The prison is built on toxic waste. I also got gout from the food there.'

Hemp oil first came to prominence as a cancer cure following claims made in 2006 by Canadian Rick Simpson that several people had seen the disease disappear after taking the substance.

Stoner stars: Cheech and Chong shot to fame after a series of hit albums and movies in the 70s and 80s

However medical marijuana champion Dr Lester Grinspoon, who is Associate Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, has spoken out against the claims.

He said: 'There is little doubt that cannabis now may play some non-curative roles in the treatment of this disease (or diseases) because it is often useful to cancer patients who suffer from nausea, anorexia depression, anxiety, pain, and insomnia.

'However, while there is growing evidence from animal studies that it may shrink tumor cells and cause other promising salutary effects in some cancers, there is no present evidence that it cures any of the many different types of cancer.

'I think the day will come when it or some cannabinoid derivatives will be demonstrated to have cancer curative powers, but in the meantime, we must be very cautious about what we promise these patients.'

The scientist, who was initially against the use of marijuana before his pioneering work on the subject changed his mind in the 1960s, also criticised the 'evidence' Simpson used to back up his claims.

Dr Grinspoon said: 'Simpson, who does not have a medical or scientific education (he dropped out of school in ninth grade), apparently does not require that a candidate for his treatment have an established diagnosis of a specific type of cancer, usually achieved through biopsy, gross and histopathological examinations, radiologic and clinical laboratory evidence.  

'He apparently accepts the word of his "patients".  Furthermore, after he has given the course of "hemp-oil" there is apparently no clinical or laboratory follow-up.

'He apparently accepts the "patient's" belief that he has been cured.  

'According to Hager, he claims a cure rate of 70%.  But 70% of what?  

'Do all the people he "treats" with hemp oil medicine have medically established, well-documented cancer or is he treating the symptoms or a constellation of symptoms that he or the patient have concluded signify the existence of cancer?  

'And what is the nature and duration of the follow-up which would allow him to conclude that he has cured 70%?  

'Furthermore, does this population of "patients with cancer" include those who have already had therapeutic regimes (such as surgery, radiation, or chemotherapy) which are known to be successful in curing some cancers or holding at bay, sometimes for long periods of time, many others?'

Skeptic: Medical marijuana pioneer Dr Lester Grinspoon has spoken out about the hemp oil claims

And the doctor, whose oldest son died of cancer when he was 11, also issued a warning to people considering using the treatment.

He said: 'There are patients who have a medically sound diagnosis of pre-symptomatic cancer (such as early prostate cancer) but who, for one reason or another, eschew allopathic treatment and desperately seek out other approaches.  

'Such patients are all too eager to believe that a new treatment, such as hemp-oil medicine, has cured their cancer.  

'Unfortunately, this cancer which was asymptomatic at the time of its discovery, will eventually become symptomatic and at that time the possibility of a cure is significantly diminished, if not no longer a conceivable goal. '

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2157389/Tommy-Chong-claims-beat-cancer-using-cannabis.html#ixzz1xSnsl7eK

Support Hemp Amendment To Farm Bill

By Johnny Green
Source: theweedblog.com

Oregon Senator To Introduce Hemp Farming Amendment

I received the following alert from Christina Volgyesi, Project Coordinator for Hemp History Week:

Today we have a huge opportunity. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) will be introducing a hemp farming amendment to Farm Bill that would allow U.S. farmers to once again grow industrial hemp. This is a historic opportunity to finally bring hemp farming back to farms in the U.S.

We need you to write and call your U.S. Senators today!

Tell them to support the Wyden hemp amendmentmendment to the Farm Bill and support a sustainable future for U.S. farmers.

This is the chance we have been waiting for and there is a very limited time to act. Please share this alert widely by forwarding this email, sharing this link, and calling your friends. Let’s make hemp history this week!

I encourage all TWB readers to follow through on this. And as for my Oregon Senator Ron Wyden, glad to see you stepping up!