Reply #168: It was once illegal not to grow hemp

[IDemo]

http://audubonmagazine.org/incite/incite9911.html

Our first hemp law, enacted in Virginia, made it illegal for farmers not to grow the stuff. That was in 1619. The same law took effect in Massachusetts in 1631, Connecticut in 1632, and the Chesapeake Colonies in the mid-1700s, at which time hemp was the world's leading crop. The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were drafted on hempen paper. During the Revolutionary War, Old Ironsides, our most formidable battleship, carried 60 tons of hempen sail and rope. Betsy Ross made the first American flag out of hempen "canvas," a word derived from cannabis. "Make the most of hempseed and sow it everywhere," declared George Washington in 1794.