The father of the legalisation movement: Jack Herer
No natural born stoner
Up to the age of 30, Jack Herer lived his life as a devoted republican. A war veteran who named his son after a conservative senator, a husband who wanted to divorce his first wife when he learned that she had smoked weed. These things changed radically when a new love managed to convince Jack to try it for himself.
Emperor of cannabis
After that first taste all his prejudices went overboard and Jack started researching. He unearthed articles from pre-war newspapers, propaganda from the depths of official archives, medication from days long past… and he published the book ‘The Emperor Wears No Clothes’, printed on hemp paper and available online nowadays (although the printed version is still where it’s at). His passion earned him the title ‘the Emperor of Hemp’.
The hemp car
Jack Herer’s book will show you that biofuels are not as innovative as they are made to be nowadays. The idea is as old as the diesel engine. The engine presented by Rudolf Diesel on the 1900 World Fair, ran on peanut oil. And Henry Ford showed the public a car with a body made of hemp fibre and a tank full of hemp oil in 1941!
Hemp for victory!
For centuries, hemp was a major crop in the agricultural sector, both inside and outside the USA. In 1937, heavy taxes discouraged farmers to actually grow hemp. This resource was dearly missed during the Second World War. So, the US government ordered for a promotional film to be made, singing praise to the many blessings of this modest plant. After the war, hemp had to make way again and the tale was denied whenever someone asked about it… until Jack Herer managed to dig up the film:
The legend lives on
Jack Herer was a believer in the potential of hemp. A sustainable source of food and energy. A natural resource that can be made into paper, clothing and building materials. A natural medicine for many diseases. And a quite innocent substance for recreational use. In the US, cannabis is slowly coming out into the open after a witch hunt that lasted nearly 80 years. Let’s hope the American people can bring this freedom to the rest of the world. Long Live Jack Herer! He earns all the respect we can give him.
