Oh, you mean like William Randolf Hearst, who didn't want hemp to compete with his paper mills? Yes,and Dupont made nylon. We made rope for ships, cowboys and evrything else from hemp. Dupont wanted it banned so we had to buy their rope and cloth made from nylon.
I have read that you can't get high from hemp. I don't know but it is supposed to be different.
Hemp is a form of cannabis, IIRC, but does not contain enough THC to get you high.
Found this:
Hemp Facts
"Industrial hemp has a THC content of between 0.05 and 1%. Marijuana has a THC content of 3% to 20%. To receive a standard psychoactive dose would require a person to power-smoke 10-12 hemp cigarettes over an extremely short period of time. The large volume and high temperature of vapor, gas and smoke would be almost impossible for a person to withstand."
The only problem is the appearance, I believe--they look very similar. But industrial hemp could be genetically modified to look different.