Jack Herer was an author and cannabis
activist whose 1985 book, The Emperor Wears No Clothes: The Authoritative
Historical Record of Cannabis and the Conspiracy Against Marijuana, inspired
the modern marijuana legalization movement. The title of the book is a
reference to the classic fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen, and Herer used
Andersen's story as an allegory for the government’s position of official
misrepresentation and prohibition of cannabis. In 1973, the year I was born
jack also published GRASS…. A self-described “normal American nerd” and veteran
of the Korean War, Herer was born in New York City and raised in Buffalo, NY.
After his stint in the Army, he worked as a sign painter before moving to Los
Angeles with his first wife and children in early 60’s. Herer would marry four
times and father six children. “I was 30 years old and this girl I knew found
out I had never gotten high,” Herer recalled about his first experience with
cannabis. “Nobody had ever told me about marijuana. She tried three times to
get me high. Finally, it worked, and I had the most incredible sex I'd ever
had.” Before long, Herer left the sign business, divorced and opened a head
shop on Venice Beach, California. It was around this time that he met another
head shop owner and a longtime marijuana advocate, Edwin M. Adair III, better
known as “Captain Ed.” Kindred spirits, the men pledged to campaign for the
legalization and decriminalization of marijuana. Following the advice of his
friend, Herer also began archiving information about the history of cannabis,
its chemical properties, and its numerous medical, industrial and agricultural
applications. That was in 1973. However, it wasn’t until Herer served 14 days
in prison in 1981, after he’d been arrested for trespassing on federal property
while collecting signatures for a California ballot initiative, that he began
writing "The Emperor Wears No Clothes" while behind bars. After his
release, Herer moved to Portland, Oregon, where he opened another head shop and
finished his manuscript. While Herer printed the book, fittingly, on hemp
paper, it is also available to read free, online. To date, there have been 16
print editions and over 600,000 copies sold. A bestseller in Germany –
Deutschlanders know their beer and their bud, evidently – the book has been
translated into a dozen different languages. Here in America, it helped
galvanize the early legalization and decriminalization movement, and firmly
established Jack Herer as the father, or “Hemperor” of the cause. For nearly 40
years, Herer crisscrossed the country, logging hundreds of thousands of miles
while campaigning to restore the hemp plant to heart and soil of American
agriculture. He envisioned the widespread acceptance and use of cannabis as
having no less than global repercussions. “Growing hemp as nature designed it
is vital to our urgent need to reduce greenhouse gases and ensure the survival
of our planet,” Herer once commented, pointing out that hemp, or its
derivatives, can be used to produce paper, fiber, food and fuel. In 2000, at a
hemp festival near Eugene, Oregon, Herer suffered a stroke. After a prolonged
and difficult recovery, his health had improved in recent years to the point
where he resumed his busy speaking schedule. Unsurprisingly, Herer partly attributed
his recovery to daily use of highly concentrated marijuana oil. Herer then suffered
a heart attack after speaking on stage at the Portland Hempstalk Festival. He
passed away on April 15, 2010 in Eugene, while in the beloved presence of his
wife Jeannie, whom he had married in September the year previously. Jack Herer
was 70 years old……..I have met Jack thrice in life and once in Amsterdam…. On Venice Beach in California- we passed
around a huge spliff that Jack rolled, this is way back when Jack was healthy
and vibrant as hell…. On the corner of 21st Ave and Irving in the
Nob Hill neighborhood of Portland, Oregon- a man was standing out front of the
eco-swanky Tribeca eatery trying to get people to sign his petition to legalize
medical marijuana in Oregon State, this man looked vaguely familiar, upon
further inquiry it was none other than Jack Herer, smoking a joint right out
front, I invited him and his guests(two oregon state representatives) in for
dinner, we later smoked several bowls of organic oregon kush for dessert…. Once
in Hendersonville, NC- Jack and a couple of NC State Representatives stayed at
the Inn that I was running and ate big Italian countryside cuisine and
strategized about how they would legalize in NC, the next day I was able to
spend the entire day with Jack smoking some of NC’s best reefer, this was post
stroke and it was hard to see Jack in this state, he was in ruff shape and
several months later we lost him…. Now in Amsterdam it was a different story
jack was full of life and celebrating the fact that the Jack Herer strain was
winning a huge amount of attention in the cannabis world…Friday, June 7, 2013
jack herer [ the emperor wears no clothes ]
Jack Herer was an author and cannabis
activist whose 1985 book, The Emperor Wears No Clothes: The Authoritative
Historical Record of Cannabis and the Conspiracy Against Marijuana, inspired
the modern marijuana legalization movement. The title of the book is a
reference to the classic fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen, and Herer used
Andersen's story as an allegory for the government’s position of official
misrepresentation and prohibition of cannabis. In 1973, the year I was born
jack also published GRASS…. A self-described “normal American nerd” and veteran
of the Korean War, Herer was born in New York City and raised in Buffalo, NY.
After his stint in the Army, he worked as a sign painter before moving to Los
Angeles with his first wife and children in early 60’s. Herer would marry four
times and father six children. “I was 30 years old and this girl I knew found
out I had never gotten high,” Herer recalled about his first experience with
cannabis. “Nobody had ever told me about marijuana. She tried three times to
get me high. Finally, it worked, and I had the most incredible sex I'd ever
had.” Before long, Herer left the sign business, divorced and opened a head
shop on Venice Beach, California. It was around this time that he met another
head shop owner and a longtime marijuana advocate, Edwin M. Adair III, better
known as “Captain Ed.” Kindred spirits, the men pledged to campaign for the
legalization and decriminalization of marijuana. Following the advice of his
friend, Herer also began archiving information about the history of cannabis,
its chemical properties, and its numerous medical, industrial and agricultural
applications. That was in 1973. However, it wasn’t until Herer served 14 days
in prison in 1981, after he’d been arrested for trespassing on federal property
while collecting signatures for a California ballot initiative, that he began
writing "The Emperor Wears No Clothes" while behind bars. After his
release, Herer moved to Portland, Oregon, where he opened another head shop and
finished his manuscript. While Herer printed the book, fittingly, on hemp
paper, it is also available to read free, online. To date, there have been 16
print editions and over 600,000 copies sold. A bestseller in Germany –
Deutschlanders know their beer and their bud, evidently – the book has been
translated into a dozen different languages. Here in America, it helped
galvanize the early legalization and decriminalization movement, and firmly
established Jack Herer as the father, or “Hemperor” of the cause. For nearly 40
years, Herer crisscrossed the country, logging hundreds of thousands of miles
while campaigning to restore the hemp plant to heart and soil of American
agriculture. He envisioned the widespread acceptance and use of cannabis as
having no less than global repercussions. “Growing hemp as nature designed it
is vital to our urgent need to reduce greenhouse gases and ensure the survival
of our planet,” Herer once commented, pointing out that hemp, or its
derivatives, can be used to produce paper, fiber, food and fuel. In 2000, at a
hemp festival near Eugene, Oregon, Herer suffered a stroke. After a prolonged
and difficult recovery, his health had improved in recent years to the point
where he resumed his busy speaking schedule. Unsurprisingly, Herer partly attributed
his recovery to daily use of highly concentrated marijuana oil. Herer then suffered
a heart attack after speaking on stage at the Portland Hempstalk Festival. He
passed away on April 15, 2010 in Eugene, while in the beloved presence of his
wife Jeannie, whom he had married in September the year previously. Jack Herer
was 70 years old……..I have met Jack thrice in life and once in Amsterdam…. On Venice Beach in California- we passed
around a huge spliff that Jack rolled, this is way back when Jack was healthy
and vibrant as hell…. On the corner of 21st Ave and Irving in the
Nob Hill neighborhood of Portland, Oregon- a man was standing out front of the
eco-swanky Tribeca eatery trying to get people to sign his petition to legalize
medical marijuana in Oregon State, this man looked vaguely familiar, upon
further inquiry it was none other than Jack Herer, smoking a joint right out
front, I invited him and his guests(two oregon state representatives) in for
dinner, we later smoked several bowls of organic oregon kush for dessert…. Once
in Hendersonville, NC- Jack and a couple of NC State Representatives stayed at
the Inn that I was running and ate big Italian countryside cuisine and
strategized about how they would legalize in NC, the next day I was able to
spend the entire day with Jack smoking some of NC’s best reefer, this was post
stroke and it was hard to see Jack in this state, he was in ruff shape and
several months later we lost him…. Now in Amsterdam it was a different story
jack was full of life and celebrating the fact that the Jack Herer strain was
winning a huge amount of attention in the cannabis world…
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