Is Food from Hemp (Cannabis) Safe to Eat? |The Vegetarian Diaries + Biologeel

Recently came into possession of a carton of hemp milk (akin to soymilk), and wondered whether or not all these hemp products which have proliferated in recent years in the food industry are safe to eat--that is whether or not consuming hemp foods would be narcotic or addictive or both. So, scrounged around on the Internet, and here's a bit of what have found from respectable sources.

For a short answer, it seems that hemp or cannabis foods are safe, but depends on which strain of hemp/cannabis is used. What gives marijuana its narcotic attributes is the chemical THC. Canadians growing industrial hemp are required to prove to the government that their crop has low levels of THC.

Pro-hemp sites seem to be fond of touting how all of the G7 big, developed countries except for the United States have legalized hemp/cannabis farming (Germany, the UK, and Canada only relatively recently). However, in other developed states, such as Australia, cannabis/hemp cultivation is illegal.

Chiefly, hemp foods are safe because they consider only minute amounts of THC. The indica subspecies of Cannabis sativa (hemp) is used for drugs. Other varieties seem to have much lower levels of THC in them. Thus, foods made from these other strains of the plant would not be that much of a threat.

A diet rich in hemp foods supposedly would still not put enough THC into a human's system to register on a drug test.

A comparison is made with poppy seeds, which contain trace amounts of opiates, but are obviously not considered a narcotic.

However, as a human who is reluctant to consume too much chocolate for that food's mildly narcotic traits, personally would be even more reluctant to eat hemp foods. But if you are willing to load up on cocoa and poppyseeds, there's little reason for you to abstain from hemp foods. They aren't dangerous nor would they be considered to be particularly narcotic. And they are chock full of ALA omega-3 essential fatty acids.

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