"A classic overreach," says Rep. Ron Paul, the one-time Presidential candidate who has co-sponsored a bill to legalize domestic production of industrial hemp. "There's not another country in the world that prohibits the raising of hemp. Only in America...I mean, it's utterly ridiculous."

Meantime, sales of hemp products are experiencing something of a high.

Not only is the fiber strong, but the seeds are high in Omega 3. Inside the Full O' Life Foods store in Burbank, the aisles are packed with hemp bread, hemp candy, hemp soaps, hemp garden gloves. "American farmers are getting cut out from an amazing growth market," says Bronner, who claims that hemp is "greener" to grow than cotton, because it doesn't need herbicides and pesticides. "It just basically grows like a weed."

Gregg Baumbaugh of FlexForm Technologies agrees. "As the tobacco use declines because of the taxes assessed on it, farmers are going to need a replacement crop...industrial hemp is a perfect replacement for tobacco."

Rep. Paul is not optimistic the bill, HR-1866, will make it out committee. "Members of Congress don't really care about it," he says. "They (think), 'If you vote for hemp, you vote for marijuana. If you vote for marijuana, you vote for hard drugs. And then you're pro drug."

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