http://www.a1b2c3.com/drugs/mj004.htm

"1936 - 1938: William Randolph Hearst's newspaper empire fuels a tabloid journalism propaganda campaign against marijuana.   Articles with headlines such as Marihuana Makes Fiends of Boys in 30 Days;  Hasheesh Goads Users to Blood-Lust create terror of the killer weed from Mexico."  

"Through his relentless misinformation campaign, Hearst is credited with bringing the word marijuana into the English language.   In addition to fueling racist attitudes toward Hispanics, Hearst papers run articles about marijuana-crazed negroes raping white women and playing voodoo-satanic jazz music."  

"Driven insane by marijuana, these blacks -- according to accounts in Hearst-owned newspapers -- dared to step on white men's shadows, look white people directly in the eye for more than three seconds, and even laugh out loud at white people. For shame!" 

"William Randolph Hearst had accumulated a chain of newspapers that made him the most influential man in America. He also owned vast timber holdings which fed the paper industry. Lammont Du Pont was his friend and supplied toxic chemicals which were needed for making paper. He was also the spearhead for a fledgling petrochemical industry. Both men stood to loose large if hemp turned the industrial revolution corner, which it looked like it was about to do with the invention of the "decorticator", a far superior machine to Jefferson's hemp break. With this new invention, it appeared that hemp could now be processed quickly enough to be used for paper and plywood instead of trees, and the petrochemical industry was and embarrassment considering you can make the same five hundred biodegradable products from hemp. This was not good news for Mr. Hearst or Mr. Dupont. Henry Ford had already made and fueled a car almost entirely from hemp, and it actually looked as if hemp had the capacity to affect Hearst and DuPont's bottom line.      

Hearst ordered all his editors to write scathing stories about marijuana to which they replied, "What's that?" Hearst made the word up because he knew no one would believe scathing stories about hemp. The articles all denigrated Mexicans, African Americans, Jazz Musicians, and the city of New Orleans, suggesting that marijuana use would certainly lead to crime, insanity, and early violent death. After a few years of this bombardment, the country was primed for the marijuana tax act of 1937.    

The marijuana tax act was sent through the good old boys network with help from Hearst and DuPont allies until it was signed into law by President Roosevelt on August 2, 1937. A slam dunk for the corporate giants, and a great lose for America."  

There are dozens of excellent websites on the Internet about hemp, marijuana, and how they have been manipulated by the wealthy and the powerful and at the expense of everything and everyone else.