How is the paper industry threatened by competition from stoned teens on skateboards hangin out behind 7-11?

Seriously though, William Randolph Hearst weilded that kind of power in what, 1935?

I really don't think the "Big Paper" lobby is that powerful today, otherwise they would have quashed the internet, which has been the real demise of the paper based information processing. Where I work, we are seeing printing volumes falling in a tailspin while the use of web sites, and on-line direct marketing soar.

Hemp based paper products is a great idea whose time came and went before it got off the ground.

Ummm,I think it might be the Liquor indistry who doesn't want the competition,too.Hemp DOES make very high quality paper,rope and clothing,and it grows much faster than timber....

Here's a biased article on the subject. I haven't found a less biased one to consider. Maybe it's true, maybe it isn't. I'll defer to historians.

http://www.venusproject.com/ethics_in_action/Real_R eason_Hemp_Illegal.html

The idea is that William R. Hearst railed against marijuana to eliminate the hemp industry on behalf of the wood pulp paper industry which was his bread and butter. I report, you decide.