Hemp was still needed industrially, only now it had to be imported into America, which caused problems during the Second World War when Japan's invasion of the Philippines cut off America's supply. So the American government gave 40'000 seeds to farmers to make them grow hemp to help the war effort; the American Government didn't have to pay the tax.

Once the war was over the 'Marijuana Tax act' stayed and now the official stance was that smoking 'Marijuana' made users 'passive' and 'unwilling to fight' in the event of a Communist invasion of America, quite the opposite image of the 'wild' and 'raging' 'dope-fiends' used in propaganda before.

Even when one ignores the use of the plant for recreational or spiritual purposes, the use of the plant for industrial purposes is far lest costly both financially and ecologically then the production of synthetic materials.
Hemp is, overall, the most durable, longest lasting natural soft fibre on the planet. The leaves and flower-tops have been the principal sources of medicine and nutrients to two-thirds of the world's population and for at least five thousand years.
It's a member of the most advanced plant family. It is dioecious, having both male and female sex organs, sometimes having both sexes on the same plant, making it hermaphroditic; and falls into two species, cannabis sativa and cannabis indica.

Sativa plants are taller and narrower than the indica species, but the indica is a bushier plant. Sativa plants grew naturally in places north of Aghanistan and in the Middle East, whereas the indica plant grew wild in Europe, southern and eastern Afghanistan as well as southern Russia.

The cannabis plant, of either species, uses the sun more efficiently than any other plant and utilises it's environment to the fullest, meaning that it can survive and thrive in most climates and soil conditions on the planet.
It is the very example of survival and should be as respected now as it had been for thousands of years in the past.

We have used the plant in many ways, shapes and forms and have always benefited from that; and to blame the plant and the substance for human weakness is folly; that is, it's pointless to outlaw something that is only bad because of the way that it gets used. Education is true power and knowledge is true strength.

After all... Everyone does it.