Source: Associated Press Pubdate: 4 June 1998

THEY'RE DARN TASTY BUT YOU WON'T CATCH A BUZZ OFF HEMPBURGERS

FRANKFORT, Ky. ( AP) 97 Rick Paul says the only thrill you'll get fro m his hemp muffins and burgers is from the taste.

The eye-catching dishes have proven extremely popular at Paul's 18-seat White Light Diner. But please, he asks, don't come in hoping for a buzz.

"Anybody who starts giggling after eating these muffins probably smoked a ( marijuana) joint before coming to work," Paul joked.

Paul started selling his unusual combination of food Tuesday.

The 59-cent muffins, available in three flavors, are made with hemp seeds, which come from a non-potent relative of the intoxicating marijuana plant.

The burgers came from cattle that ate hemp-fortified feed. Paul says they're less greasy than typical burgers because they were ground with less f at.

Some customers were a little wary.

"If they drug-test me, I won't show up positive, will I?" one city firefighter inquired as he waited for his hemp burger.

Hemp-fed beef is rare since hemp production is illegal in the United States. It's legal to import specially certified seeds and hemp fiber for certain purposes, such as beer-making. The farmer who supplied the beef got his grain from a brewery that couldn't use the seeds because they were gr ound too fine.

"It tastes so burgery ... it's the best burger I ever had," customer Charlene Howard said.

1998 Associated Press.