Robert Deitch is a writer based in Los Angeles, CA, who has been active in promoting political and social causes including the legalization of medical marijuana.

Deitch offers a look at major events in US and world history as they influenced, and as they may have been influenced by, the cultivation and use of hemp. The author discusses the differences between hemp grown for use as a...

Deitch offers a look at major events in US and world history as they influenced, and as they may have been influenced by, the cultivation and use of hemp. The author discusses the differences between hemp grown for use as a popular smoke, the stronger type known as marijuana, and hemp as it has been grown throughout the history of civilization for its tough and versatile fiber. He joins other hemp fans in decrying the entrenched business interests that, they say, conspired in the 1930s to make the fiber-producing hemp illegal by associating it with marijuana -- and demonizing the latter. His take on history is entertaining and easily accessible; he discusses several of the potential areas where hemp could be re-introduced as a raw material and reduce our dependence on petroleum products and trees.

This is not a book exclusively about hemp. Both hemp and marijuana are by-products of the Cannabis plant Ã??' an extraordinarily useful plant, a plant that mankind has exploited in virtually every way, for thousands of years. What is it about hemp, or Cannabis, that causes such a diversity of opinion about it today? You would think that by now we would know everything there is to know about it and long ago would have come up with a way of minimizing any potential danger so that we could enjoy its many benefits - just as we do with all the other potentially dangerous products and commodities (from fire, guns and corrosive chemicals to alcohol, tobacco, and automobiles) that we use in our everyday lives. Unfortunately, the exact opposite is true because in 1937, despite CannabisÃ??' beneficial history, an unwitting U.S. Congress and President (Franklin Delano Roosevelt) essentially outlawed the cultivation and use of hemp, for virtually any purpose. Ostensibly, they were motivated by fear of the harmful effects of an intoxicant; in reality, they were serving other interests. Most of them had been duped into believing they were taxing the use of an allegedly harmful drug - marijuana, to discourage its use. In fact, few if any of the congressmen who voted in favor of the Marijuana Tax Act had ever heard the word 'marijuana' before and didn't know what it meant. They certainly didn't know that hemp and marijuana came from the same Cannabis plant, and they were never told they were actually outlawing hemp - a crop they were very familiar with because most of them grew up with it on their family farm.