Because most of the tree-paper companies were very powerful and had numerous government connections, in 1939 they launched a national campaign to put a prohibitive tax on hemp. One of the campaign's strategies to win the majority's opinion was by informing the public of the "horrific" dangers of marijuana through media and mail. This is when hemp began to be called marijuana and made illegal. .
Cannabis can be used to make many different products. The first pair of Levi's jeans was made out of hemp, and even today you can find some imported shoes made out of hemp. It's a comfortable material that's safe for the environment, and is economically available; it's softer than wool and cotton, and also warmer than cotton. Cannabis-hemp takes up much less land than cotton plants do, and needs no fertilizer. Cotton on the other hand, needs large amounts of fertilizer to grow well. Over one half of all environmentally harmful pesticides are used on cotton plants. Hemp is also much cheaper than cotton; it doesn't take as much money to grow the plants, and more of the plant can be used, therefore earning the farmer more money. In today's economy, most farmers are barely breaking even. With the introduction of hemp as a cash crop, the almost nonexistent family farm will again flourish. In the forward section of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's 1992 yearbook of agriculture, it states: "it's important for America to lead in the research and development of alternative uses for agricultural products." Hemp meets all standards developed for being considered as a source of fuel. Through the process of hydrolysis, a plant's cellulose can be converted to ethanol. Corn is currently being researched as a source of ethanol, but it doesn't come close to producing the eighty percent cellulose of hemp. This solution could solve the entire world's energy supply problem. By the year 2005, the price of ethanol would be approximately sixty- seven cents; it's obviously less than other available power supplies.