>> >>JOANNE: David Bronner locked himself in a metal cage in front of the white house.
You may have heard of Dr.ÊBronner's magic soap made from hemp which comes from the marijuana
plant which in the United States is illegal to grow unless under special circumstances.
Take a look at brawn pr as police officers cut him out of the cage ending his protest.
>> >>JOANNE: David Bronner joins me now. Thanks for being here.
So they obviously let you out of jail because here you are.
Why were you protesting? >> >>DAVID BRONNER: You know, for over a decade
we have been using hemp seed oil as an ingredient in our soaps.
It's high in the essential Omega 3, essential fatty acid that the America diet is chronically
deficient in. The same time warning people from eating too much fish and fish oil supplements
because of Mercury, and environmental toxins. Hemp seed is one of the few alternatives of
the sources of Omega 3. Cosmetically and in a soap product o Omega
three makes the lather smoother. >> >>JOANNE: The issue is hemp verse ow marijuana.
Are they two different plants the same? What is the difference?
>> >>DAVID BRONNER: They are a very different variety of the cannabis species.
Two different dog breeds can breed but they are different varieties.
They have never been psychoactive in hemp seed.
They are completely separate from medicinal and recreational strains.
Most of the rest of the world has moved on and re commercialized industrial hemp farming,
this has nothing to do with marijuana varieties. In all countries in Europe, China, Canada,
pretty much every industrialized economy and country has re commercialized hemp farming
except for the United States. >> >>JOANNE: You're saying basically with
that variety of marijuana plant you can't get high?
>> >>DAVID BRONNER: You can't. It's not possible.
>> >>JOANNE: Okay. So if it's illegal here in the United States,
where do you get the hemp for you to make the soap?
>> >>DAVID BRONNER: We are forced to sent send 100,000 dollars a year for hemp seed
oil from Canada. They re commercialized in 1998.
Initially we were buying from Europe, and in 2000, the quality in Canada was higher
than the European. We really felt we were on the cusp of re commercializing
in the United States as well. It's time to get with the program.
But, under bush it was a regressive time under the policy front generally.
Industrial hemp, we thought this is such a non issue, if we could get it out, then with
Obama finally here's this guy who touts his own science rational based approach to policy
and he had voted as an Illinois state senator for hemp cultivation under Illinois state
law, we expected finally we'reÊ >> >>JOANNE: Which was your protest.
>> >>DAVID BRONNER: The fourth year the administration has been blowing us off, and has issued the
most bush era typeÊ >> >>JOANNE: You have some support.
Senator Ron widen from Oregon is introduced whrej slaigz.
Here's a clip from him now. >> >>: The only thing standing in the way
of taking advantage of this very profitable crop is a lingering misunderstanding about
its use. >> >>JOANNE: So now, we also ask the DEA,
the drug enforcement agency for a comment with regard to this story.
They say: >> >>JOANNE: That comes from David levy.
You want to change that? >> >>DAVID BRONNER: Yeah, and it's this kind
of a double speak. Congress clear whrea exempted hemp fiber and
products. It's illegal to import.
But we're handling the world's largest hemp seed from Canada to China.
The DEA does this double kind of game where they say on the one hand you know that we'll
give you permits to grow it, but they never will.
They issued one permit to this Hawaiian. They made 24 hour lights and dogs and made
a hundred thousand dollars of costs to grow one acre.
They make it commercially impact possible to grow.
>> >>JOANNE: We started off with you being arrested are you facing charges in D. C.?
>> >>DAVID BRONNER: Yeah, technically I am facing possession of marijuana with intent
to sell, if it was to distribute it would have been a felony, they don't want me in
front of a jury of my peer. I'm pretty sure they're going to plead us
out with community service. Law enforcement support what we're doingÊ
>> >>JOANNE: We have to leave it there. We want to send people to KPBS.org, more of
the video you saw and also links with more nmpgz about this story.
Thanks for being here.