I just read this recently, and it explains the whole issue.
Marijuanna ,as its called, isnt the real name. the real name is HEMP. and if you search the history of the hemp plant you'll discover what hemp is/was all about. it was /is the most extraordinary plant in the world. so much so that it was used in myriad ways, least of which was smoking to get high. it was the single most important cash crop used industrially, for centuries, including in the USA,all prior to the oil/plastics/tree-paper industry that came of age in the last 100 years.
hemp was the principal crop used to make clothing, before the advent of the cotton induustry. hemp fibers are far more sturdy and make clothing last longer. fibers so sturdy that they made ropes out of hemp.
what else... before the age od plastics,which comes from oil, the things made now out of plastic were made from hemp. and ...paper parchment was all made from hemp. the us constitution was written on hemp paper. what made it all change? william randolph hearst....owned a billion dollar forest,and was powerful enough to lobby for laws that forced paper to be made from trees,instead of hemp. hemp paper is better because it doesnt turn yellow with age, like tree paper does. artists canvases,all made with hemp also by the way.
so around the mid 1930's..... as the plastics and tree paper industry was hijacking the hemp industry,destroyed it completely....typical corruption of government and industry and greed of elite power.
but prior to these times....hemp was in fact mandated to be planted in the USA as a cash crop for its vital industry. farmers were forced to plant it sometimes. the whole story is fascinating and of course ,sad....because its all about the corruption of the eliute corporate/government power we all suffer under. even now, in the medical industry, another corrupt indistry, the govt/medical power system prohibits HEMP OIL from being cultivated . hemp oil cures cancer. the govt/medical industry doesnt want something like that. and on it goes.human civilization has not progressed since the ancient romanan times. kings are still kings. theyre just called CEO's now. and government is still corrupt. and we are still the serfs and slaves. anything good ,like HEMP...will be taken away from you. like the genius work of nikola tesla,150 years ahead of his time,created free electricity. government powers wouldnt want you to have that would they? and on it goes. until the poles shift and the planet cleanses itself from all the corruption.