When I was growing up on the farm, we used hemp rope all the time. It's just good, basic stuff. And it's not the same stuff the idiots all smoke.

Hemp is a plant that look like pot but does not have the THC in it.

Hemp can be used for anything from Rope to 2x4's (yes you can build a house with it)
from what i have read hemp was outlawed because DUpont and other company's knew the value of hemp.

Sorry it took me so long to respond. The person I spoke of with the PHD is a college professor, well respected and liked by students and facility. He works his ass off, just like the teachers who don't smoke pot. I also know a police officer, a lawyer and a medical doctor, who smoke pot. They all do thier jobs as well as any of thier equals, yet have to keep thier 'kicks' hidden. The doctor and the cop don't drink. none of the people I know do any other drugs that I know of. The professor told me once he had tried harder stuff, in the early 70's in school, but said he had long ago disassociate himself from everyone he had known, who continued doing hard drugs, which is pretty much what I also did.
I worked on fishing boats and in construction for most of my working years and I know a couple of the mooch types you spoke of, they are out there. Maybe that is thier pesonality to start with though. But, practically every fisherman, carpenter, and painter, my age, I knew, smoked weed. Some drank, some didn't. The common thing about most of them is they worked thier ass of during the day and smoked weed after work. Pot doesn't give you a hangover and I'd trust a straight pothead working over me(on scaffolding or a ladder) far sooner than someone with a hangover. The few that used harder drugs never lasted long, especially in construction. No one wanted to put thier lives in the hands of a crack head and more times than not it was one of the potheads that found out about heavy drug users and they were usually the ones to tell the boss, who, in some cases also smoked pot. We were all fine with that because our lives might have been on the line.
There really are millions of daily functioning, undercover, pot smokers. It is far better for you than alcohol and if that is what a person wants to do on thier own time then it should be thier right to choose what they put in thier bodies.
It is really easy for the average person, who never has tried pot, to be misled about it. The Government has been trying to brainwash people for years with the 'evil weed' thing. Pot is not the horrible drug it is taught to be.

Jeff, to comment on the hemp thing, there is now a simple DNA test to tell the difference between pot and hemp. I read it could easily be made into an out of the lab test, with a small kit. There is no reason hemp should not be legal.
I think the dupont theory, mentioned by America First, holds alot of water. They make poly rope which has practically replaced hemp rope. The big boats I worked on had hemp rope for tying up to the docks and it was strong stuff.
I think the oil companies are against it too because hemp oil could be burned in place of fossil fuels with a huge reduction of greenhouse gases because hemp oil burns clean. Not to mention all the other great applications already mentioned. Someday it will be legal. I think half the reason pot is not legal is because of the value of hemp(which they would have to legalize too) and the money that would be lost by these other big Corperations. They should gear up for production now and then they would be in a position to benefit. If not they'll all be screwed when the day finally comes that we do away with lobbiests paying Congresspersons for thier votes.

There is a poll going on right now on Lou Dobbs Tonite concerning the legalization of marijuana for anyone interested.

Here is the link to the site and the voting booth, so to speak, is on the left side of the main page:

CNN.com - Lou Dobbs Tonight

Ooh, intrigue

There were actually laws in place in several American colonies during the 1600's and 1700's that "ordered" all farmers to grow hemp.

That's how important hemp was in the world years ago.

And I can't imagine all of the uses for hemp simply disappearing by making growing it illegal...even with the technology that exists today.

More than 3/4 of the people that voted in that poll voted that they felt that marijuana should be legalized in the US.

I wonder if our representatives in our government are listening.

If we took a poll on banning taxation do you think 3/4 of the people would say yes too??

It doesnt mean its the right thing

giving people freedoms that do not impede on the freedom of others is ALWAYS the right thing to do