Like most social change, the District’s first all-hemp emporium arose from years of complaining.

The chief complainer: Adam Eidinger, professional protester and erstwhile political candidate.

His complaint: “We’re the last major metropolitan area in the U.S. that doesn’t have a hemp store.”

Determined to see Washington join places like New York, Boston and even Burlington, Vt., Eidinger decided to open his own store, Capitol Hemp.

Until now, Eidinger has not been known as a businessman but as a spokesman for antiwar activists, stadium protesters, angry bicyclists and people who frequent natural-food stores.

Capitol Hemp grew out of his work for Vote Hemp, a District-based group devoted to lifting restrictions on hemp farming. (Hemp is legal to import into the United States but cannot legally be grown here.)

Full Story: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/06/AR2008040601452.html