Brewery allowed to keep 'Legal Weed' label

WEED, Calif., Sept. 2 (UPI) -- A Weed, Calif., brewer said he has won his battle against federal regulators to allow him to continue to put the words "Legal Weed" on his beer bottles.

Vaune Dillmann, 61, who was previously ordered by the U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau to keep the words "Try Legal Weed" off the bottle caps of beers made by his Mt Shasta Brewing Co. said the agency has backed down from its position and approved the controversial cap, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday.

"They acted like Big Brother. They said I was guilty of a thought crime," Dillmann said. "But it's over. Weed fought the law and Weed won!"

He told the Times the agency's assistant director told him in a letter that the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau has been convinced that the phrase is a reference to the brand name of the microbrew and not a misleading statement designed to make consumers believe the product contains marijuana.

Dillman said that while the legal wrangling with the agency has taken a heavy emotional toll on him and his family, the publicity generated by the controversy has been good for business. He said orders for the brewery's beers have doubled during the six months since he was first targeted by federal regulators, the Times said.