Hemp is not only in direct competition with timber and petroleum, but also with many other industries throughout the world. Hemp offers wholesome and nutritious foodstuffs such as edible oil from the seeds, which are also used for making chocolate bars and other foods; renewable fiber for clothing and building. The original Levi jeans were made from hemp but lasted too long to be commercially viable; high grade papers, such as those used for bank notes, tissues, hand towels, and tea bags, where strength when wet is critical, and so much more.
The cotton-growing states also played a lead role in the prohibition of hemp, since cotton is far less durable than hemp fiber. Cotton is also the most pesticide-intensive crop and grows less than 2 feet tall in a season, while hemp grows 15 to 20 feet. Since cotton cannot compete with other weeds and insects when cultivated as a monoculture crop, 28% of all pesticides we produce on our planet are applied to the cotton crop. Hemp, on the other hand, produces more than a dozen times as much textile fiber as cotton and is virtually pesticide-free since it kills weeds.
Hemp cloth was worn by most of mankind until the 19th century; however, today we rely on cotton, the most pollution-intensive crop on earth. We are stripping the last remnants of our planet's protective mantel of old-growth forests, causing environmental destruction, desertification and serious changes to the world's climate. We are neglecting hempseed protein, the most productive and healthiest food crop on earth.