Air Force admits to being too stupid to manage drug tests

Air Force Bans Greek Yogurt With Hemp Seeds Over Anti-Drug Policy Concerns

The Air Force warned personnel over the weekend to steer clear of a specific flavor of Chobani Greek yogurt that includes hemp seeds.

Hemp contains trace amounts of THC, the psychoactive ingredient also found in marijuana, classified alongside heroin and LSD as a Schedule I drug under federal law. The Air Force, as part of its anti-drug policy, added hemp seed oil products and hemp seed to a list of forbidden substances in 1999, over concerns that they could confuse the results of drug tests regularly given to service members.

Chobani’s Blueberry Power Flip is the latest victim of that prohibition. The Air Force made clear that yogurt flavors without hemp were still fine to eat.

For this we pay all those taxes?

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18 Responses to Air Force admits to being too stupid to manage drug tests

  1. DdC says:

    … and they fly through the air with big guns…

    Cannabis Seeds
    The Most Nutritionally Complete Food on the Planet

    Yankee Bombers Bombed
    Speed and downers are commonly issued to American forces, according to the Toronto Star (Sept 14th, 2002). An investigation report into an incident earlier this year when a US Air Force pilot in Afghanistan attacked friendly forces, revealed that Major Harry Schmidt had been issued “go pills” shortly before dropping a laser guided bomb on a company of Canadian Light Infantry, killing four soldiers and wounding another eight.

    ‘war on drugs’ becomes ‘war ON drugs’

    One of the findings was that “The 332nd Air Expeditionary Group was not managing and monitoring go pill usage (according to) United States Air Force directives”. Pilots are routinely given the stimulant Dexedrine, generically known as dextroamphetamine, to stay alert during long combat missions. They are also given “no go pills” called Ambien (zolpidem) and Restoril (temazepam) in order to sleep when they return to base.

    PilotsToo many missions?,jpg
    Can’t stay awake in the air?
    Take Amphetamines!
    Watch out Canadians!
    Here comes the USAF!

    3 million children are taking stimulant drugs for ADHD (Meth)
    Ganja for ADHD

    And I’ve been from Tucson to Tucumcari
    Tehachapi to Tonopah
    Driven every kind of rig that’s ever been made
    Driven the backroads so I wouldn’t get weighed
    And if you give me weed, whites and wine
    And you show me a sign
    And I’ll be willin’ to be movin’

    Adderall: America’s Favorite Amphetamine
    By James L. Kent · Thu May 09, 2013

  2. darkcycle says:

    According to Robert Connell Clark, as far as I know the foremost authority on Cannabis Botany in the world, the only parts of the Cannabis plant the contain NO THC are the seeds and roots. This is more about imposing a rigid statute for the military (they like NO grey areas), and maintaining the party line, than any real testing issues they may (not) have had.
    Even so, make ’em look like idiots. Rigid inflexible idiots. (most likely an accurate characterization)

    • B. Snow says:

      I think they may be mistaking the seed bracts with the seeds themselves, And/Or = Confusing them with poppy seeds(?) – which will give ‘false positives’ in drug tests.

  3. darkcycle says:

    …almost made a massive oopsie. Thank Allah for the edit/delete function.

  4. curmudgeon says:

    Just more evidence that military intelligence is an oxymoron. and the person who made that ruling is a plain moron. Yeah, Pete, we’re sure getting a great return on our taxes.

  5. claygooding says:

    I have heard that you don’t know what Italian dressing is until you have some made from hemp oil squeezed from the hemp seed.
    I don’t see stupid in the order,,I see a prohibitionist in a blue uniform using his position in the Air Force as a platform to stir up more smoke around the hemp plant.
    His wife is probably a rehab doctor.

    • War Vet says:

      To deny our armed forces healthy hemp during a time of war is violent sabotage and treason. Good health is key to victory and surviving war and hemp seed can offer the soldier much beneficial nutrition and American hemp would be very cost effective, thus saving the military money on nutrition (also good in achieving and or maintaining victory). Due to the nature of cause and effect and the fact we are at war, denying our soldiers the benefits of hemp is the same thing as giving aid to Al Qaeda and the Taliban, since good health from good nutrition is a necessity in fighting a sufficient war against the enemy . . . even Napoleon said so himself: “an army marches on its stomachs”.

  6. ezrydn says:

    Remembering back to my days in the bush, our medics carried bottles of Dexedrine. If we couldn’t stay awake, he’d give us 3-4. Many nights were 100% alert (back to back) or full-on fire fights. They both helped and hindered.

    • darkcycle says:

      We had the “Go” pills too. I stayed away….but they would hand ’em out by request, and some of our folks were way too strung out to be functional.

  7. Servetus says:

    Hemp hysteria makes sense only in the foggy realm of voodoo prohibition. Within voodoo prohibition, anything that’s touched cannabis or is part of the plant, like its seeds or fiber, or the containers marijuana comes in, or if someone chooses to ingest medical marijuana, all such objects or people automatically assume the mythical evil of the marijuana plant. It’s a kind of totemism. The idiosyncrasy appears at the core of most primitive, prohibitionist behavior and belief.

  8. Tom Murphy says:

    This policy of banning hemp foods by branches of the military goes back to 2001, when DEA was in the process of trying to ban hemp foods altogether. DEA was unsuccessful in this attempt. The summary “Agency Issues Legislative Rule in Violation of Administrative Procedures Act” by Harrison M. Pittman of the National Agricultural Law Center is an excellent overview of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision in HIA v. DEA. http://bit.ly/AgLawHemp

    Here are some historical documents from that time:

    Buyer Beware: Steroids, Hemp Seed Products Off-Limits to Air Force Members
    By Capt. Sean McKenna Air Force Space Command Public Affairs
    http://1.usa.gov/16O5Uax

    AIR FORCE INSTRUCTION 44-121
    26 SEPTEMBER 2001
    http://votehemp.com/PDF/air_force.pdf

    The TestPledge program is a voluntary commitment by the North American hemp food industry to limit THC concentrations to levels where they cannot result in positive drug tests. Learn more here: http://testpledge.com

    Please contact the HIA http://thehia.org for further information on THC in hemp foods.

    If you need further information on trace THC in hemp foods we recommend that you read this study:

    Δ9-Tetrahydrocannabinol Content of Commercially Available Hemp Products
    Justin M. Holler, Thomas Z. Bosy, Christopher S. Dunkley, Barry Levine, Marilyn R. Past and Aaron Jacobs, Journal of Analytical Toxicology July-August 2008, pp.428-432. A full PDF of the journal article is available for free at this link:
    http://bit.ly/JATOXhemp2008

    This five year old study, authored by military drug testing experts shows that trace THC in hemp foods has been reduced and that eating hemp foods “should not be considered as a realistic cause for a positive urine analysis result.” (Final sentence of Results and Discussion, pp. 431). All branches of the military should change their policies on hemp foods. Until the policy is changed, which the HIA is currently working on, members should heed the warnings of their superiors.

  9. War Vet says:

    The vets and civs on this site are all good and very aware of justice, while giving a damn about this nation. I’m angry that a lot of vets are unaware or just don’t care to get involved with the big picture (and I always say the War on Drugs has its nasty tentacles in a lot of big problems that have nothing to do with drugs or the War on Drugs due to the cause and effect/trickle down nature of prohibition). Facebook is full of vets who show pictures of soldiers, the war and patriotism, but I’m left questioning if their lack of concern and activism makes them patriotic (and you can tell which ones leave the government up to others or the government herself) . . . I’m dabbling in the belief that merely serving your country during war doesn’t make one patriotic and if this Government by the People and For the People doesn’t get aware and active, then claiming to be patriotic (or even acting concerned over what’s headlining in the political news) for a nation that might lose everything due to apathy appears to me to be the same thing as being proud one lost their virginity to their sibling or parent.

    It takes people like us to not only keep open dialogue via commenting on Pete’s etc page(s) and gaining more knowledge by reading them, but also writing to our politicians and being a part of activism/political groups, which I’m convinced most of us on this couch are. Out of all the ‘anti-prohibition’ sites out there –that I’ve followed or follow, this is by far the most extraordinary group of people . . . I’ve just got this feeling from reading Pete’s page and the comments that most of us here are the main ones (or types) who get the ball rolling.

    • darkcycle says:

      More complex than that. Way, way more. Most people are simple, and don’t like muddy grey areas. If you are …umm…how do I say this….less willing to examine your own actions, the automatic response is to become defensive. War is complex, and damaging. And the first task of memory is to try to blot it out, or somehow justify it. One way to do this is to rigidly adhere to the official version of things. one question can start an avalanche, you know… if you don’t question, you don’t get uncomfortable answers that may put your role into doubt.
      PTSD is the failure of the mechanism that both forgets and forgives our experiences. Trauma. It is understudied and poorly understood, but in the end it is (IMHO) the genesis of 90% of psychological problems we experience as human beings. From the childhood disorders to Adult Psychopathology.

      • allan says:

        funny… that trauma thing. I mean not ha ha but funny that as obvious as it is, it is so not, as you say, understood.

        Officially an old fart now I manage to meander thru those old memories, looking around, poking at why’s and pulling on those threads that bind.

        Aside from a roll over (actually a 180º flip and turn, ended upside down facing back the way I came, I was even properly behind the crosswalk when I stopped) accident and some torrid, hearts aflame – yet ended – dalliances (wait, I better throw in the PCP boys and their pistola in my face too) I can point to an incident as a kid that altered my world… bullies.

        As a kid I was on the go, outside as many hours as there was light generally. I loved nature. I could watch bugs and birds and critters all day. As I got older I started doing the whole identification thing, learning about all those critters, their life cycles, latin names and families… I must’ve been 8 or 9 and was at one of our local parks. Wooded with a small creek loaded with crawdads, it was awesome for a kid like me and I’d spend my time catching bugs. Especially butterflies, they were just too cool.

        But then the bullies showed up. Apparently chasing butterflies with a net isn’t cool. I learned from them that lesson in just a few short minutes. After… unless I was at home my biology learnin’ was done covertly and that innocent pleasure of knowing all that I knew and always learning more about life around me kinda faded away. Cool was more important, apparently.

        As an adult tho’ that involvement w/ nature returned (thank you teonanacatl and native people) and I’ve fought my battles for some special places. And I’m back to chasing butterflies and birds and critters, but I do it with a camera. Cameras are cooler than butterfly nets.

        But the whole point of that (sorry, once I start ramblin’…) is that I might have actually taken that interest further and professionally as an adult. And then I could’ve been freaking paid to chase critters with a camera AND a net!

        Trauma sucks.

      • War Vet says:

        Granted they are human and yes, I agree they are simple, but we took an oath . . . part of ‘combat’ and ‘missions’ can be found simply by reading the newspaper and writing to your editor/politician. We are supposed to be that great experiment –though still in the process of the great democratic experiment. I just have a fear the process will stop. What’s wrong with adhering to the full story of war –at least the War on Terror . . . Iraq was a bandwagon of fear in the eyes of the people and to say Saddam didn’t have WMD’s is an attempt to prove the 1980’s never existed (Kurd Genocide). Official story: we were attacked and ran around like chickens with our heads cut off out of fear and rage . . . America’s experience with previous dictators did give us the ‘go ahead’ to take Saddam out, lest we prove Hitler is a role model and Carnival Cruise ships often set off to vacation in North Korea (though I don’t think a U.N. violation is grounds for the kind of war we had in Iraq –we should have never been in Iraq, but then again, I do care about the Kurds and ridding Saddam for them: a damn conundrum).

        But then again I’m also coming at it via my DNA: My blood line is why George Washington became general and president (kind of hard to be leader or elected if one dies –twice saved) . . . my blood line served not only as a colonel, but a general for the Colonial Army (and yes, I scold their past as slave owners) . . . they are a big reason why Baltimore’s harbors and harbor side businesses looked the way it did in the 1700’s and why the Cherokees had an alphabet and a big shove for female rights when it comes to women lawyers and why Social Security looks the way it does/did when FDR and his team worked on it . . . those are my ancestors shoes (which is why I’m hear trying to fill them). It’s not hard to recognize that heroin is illegal and heroin (like all drugs) can be processed into gunpowder, corruption, rape, crashed airplanes and big bombs (granted, the thought of full blow drug legalization might not come up, but some sort of moving dialogue about drug policy should at least pop up).

        One of my old jobs after the war enabled me to teach kids their history and about current politics/policy, which means I took it upon myself to make sure I at least attempted to make these kids aware (or at least as best you can with troubled teens) about the War on Drugs and its affect on the War on Terror/economy. The Joker in Batman once said: ‘why so serious?’ . . . I ask the people (is it the majority?): ‘Why so simple.’ I know deep down I know why and what you commented on DC –I know what you mean . . . I’m trying not to be in denial about it. But with the war and the drug war and its scathing precedents/tentacles and our economy, I’m left wishing the hundreds of things I’ve written about in the news papers/face book or in conversation didn’t go in one ear and out the other . . . I cannot speak for the Vietnam Vets or the other vets, but our nation was attacked by drug money and we went to Bactria and Babylon fighting drug money. And severing her and diagnosing her wounds/ills kind of feels like a father watching his teenage daughter/son destroy their life with life altering bad choices. I just hope the Grand ol’ Republic and Constitution won’t completely die off before we win this war on drugs . . . but then again, to own the keys to this great experiment in democracy probably means a nation’s life time will be constantly spent fighting for it in one form or another . . . one day we’ll laugh at the War on Drugs because something will come up replacing her and maybe be much worse (with a little help from the War on Drugs precedents).

  10. Tom Murphy says:

    Air Force yogurt ban prompts Chobani to remove hemp seeds | Air Force Times http://bit.ly/15y9oyd

    I received this confirmation earlier this evening directly from Chobani:

    “Except for Blueberry Power Chobani Flip, no Chobani product contains hemp seeds. However, we’re committed to giving our fans what they want and are in the process of removing this ingredient from our Blueberry Power Chobani Flip. We want to be sure that everyone, including our troops, can enjoy Chobani.”

    • Windy says:

      Last thing they should do is change that one yogurt flavor just because the Air force said it was banned for troops. Why the hell does NO ONE, no company, no politician stand up and say “This is ridiculous! Stop it right now! I refuse to be bullied about and forced to change my common daily life, eating habits or business practices to suit someone else’s fears or predictions of doom!”

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