PIONEER HARVESTS HEMP IDEA INTO BUSINESS

The rebirth of hemp began in 1985 when counterculture activist/entrepreneur
Jack Herer published his eccentric book, The Emperor Wears No Clothes.

Printed on cheap newsprint, the self-published book argued that cannabis
sativa is a wonder crop that could save the world. Only a conspiracy of drug
agents and powerful corporate interests had prevented this glorious plant
from clothing the poor, saving the environment and helping end famine, Herer
wrote.

"I had a vision about hemp in 1974 when a bunch of us were stoned," Herer
recalls. "I thought when we came down, the idea would be ridiculous.
Instead, I realized it was even a better idea than I'd thought."

He opened the nation's first hemp store in Venice Beach, Calif., in 1981.
For his book, he researched hemp for 11 years, harvesting a wealth of U.S.
Agriculture Department material on the wonders of cannabis hemp and a now
well-known government propaganda film, Hemp For Victory, that encouraged
farmers to grow cannabis for fiber during World War II. The 1942 film echoes
Herer's claims about hemp.

The Emperor Wears No Clothes has sold 600,000 copies since 1985, including
150,000 in German and French. A new edition was released Thursday.

Although still self-published, the book, subtitled The Authoritative
Historical Record of Cannabis and the Conspiracy Against Marijuana and How
Hemp Can Save The World!, is now available in major bookstores for $24.95
and printed on high quality paper (made from trees, excluding 1,000 copies
on hemp available for $100 each).

In the early 1990s, farmers and agricultural researchers began examining
Herer's ideas. Although most found his claims overstated, a consensus
developed that he was right about his most important point: hemp was a
valuable crop, long used for fiber and oil, that answered many of today's
environmental concerns because it replenishes the soil and can be grown with
few herbicides or pesticides.

"Jack kept the idea of hemp from being lost in the dustbin of history," says
David West, who has a Ph.D. in plant breeding and was one of the first
agricultural professionals to re-examine hemp. "But many farmers squirm at
this counterculture connection."

West says the Drug Enforcement Administration makes the same mistake Herer
made in his original 1985 book: "They both see hemp and marijuana as the
same thing. To an agricultural professional, this just is not so."

Herer expresses disappointment that marijuana legalization has lost its
importance as hemp has gone mainstream. In their desire to separate hemp and
marijuana, many farmers ignore excellent hemp that is above the legal THC
limit, he says. THC is the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana that causes
a high.

But Herer lives to fulfill a pledge he first made in 1974 with his now
deceased best friend and business partner, "Captain Ed" Adair: "We'd swear
to work every day to legalize marijuana and get all pot prisoners out of
jail, until we were dead, marijuana was legal, or we could quit when we were
84. We wouldn't have to quit, but we could."

Herer, 59, is founder and director of Help End Marijuana Prohibition, or
H.E.M.P.

Checked-by: Don Beck