In October 2013, a public servant in the ACT was embroiled in a 9 month court battle over a drugs charge that stemmed from the consumption of hemp seeds in her morning muesli. While it's common practice for people around the world to legally consume hemp seeds, in Australia, it is still not legal for hemp seeds, hemp oil or hemp protein to be consumed by humans or marketed as a food for humans (although they can be used cosmetically or be given to pets).

In 2011, drug driving laws came in to effect with a zero-tolerance approach for any trace level of THC in the blood. While people can consume alcohol and be 0.05 blood alcohol and still be allowed to drive with alcohol in their system, the same can't be said for THC, which is in cannabis and trace levels can be found in hemp products too.

When the law came in to effect, it was feared that the zero tolerance law was ignoring the actual impairment of drivers and instead, may innocently catch drivers who had consumed a food product containing trace levels of THC. In January 2013, a 37 year old Canberra woman was involved in an accident that caused her serious injuries. As a part of her standard tests in hospital, levels of THC were tested and found in her blood. Despite their being no impairment to drive with the levels detected (or as was her case, riding a motorcycle), she was charged with driving under the influence of drugs.

The woman's husband was a dietician and had been making his wife a gluten free muesli for breakfast, and one of the ingredients was hemp seeds.

The rationale behind there being a zero tolerance policy towards THC when trace levels cause no impairment vs 0.05 alcohol being allowed is because the consumption of both cannabis and hemp seeds as a food are both illegal in this country. Advocates for the benefit of using hemp foods as a dietary supplement are still fighting to have the laws changed.

Read more from the Canberra Times here >