Rolando Mota
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Jack Herer is recovering from a heart attack, but his mission to bring hemp into the spotlight as an answer for multiple problems, continues.
Jack Herer
Author and activist Jack Herer is a leader in the hemp and marijuana decriminalization movement.
(SALEM, Ore.) - Jack Herer is a very resilient fellow. 40 years ago he was a Goldwater Republican. Nine years ago he suffered a minor heart attack, and a major stroke.
All these calamities and more, he survived.
But his fight continues. For the last four weeks, Jack has been in a Portland Oregon hospital, slowly recovering from a heart attack. On Monday, he was discharged from Legacy Emanuel Hospital, and his family moved him to a nursing facility in Eugene, according to Oregonlive.com.
Exactly one month ago, Jack was stricken by a heart attack. So, each day, the challenge is no less than the day before. The challenge to bring Jack back.
He was in a medically induced coma for several days, on the critical list in ICU for nearly three weeks. Over time, he showed some improvements. His EEG (brain scan) showed more activity, and he would open his eyes. He stretched his arms and legs, yawned, turned his head from side to side. They removed the respirator.
Last week he was taken off the Critical list, moved out of ICU, and remains in stable condition. Stable enough, it seems, to be moved to another facility.
Still though, there has been no word from Jack. "He is waking up and gazing appropriately when someone's talking," Paul Stanford (THCF) said, "but he's not really communicating in any way."
We've been told that Jack responds to touch, has squeezed the hands of close friends and family, and that he even sat up in bed one day when his daughter came into the room. None of this means he's okay. It just means he's still with us, and working on recovery.
Jack is a devoted man. He has devoted his life to the cause to decriminalize hemp and cannabis. He stands strong on the belief that the cannabis sativa (hemp/marijuana) plant should be decriminalized, having been proven to be a renewable source of fuel, food and medicine, and he's been telling the story without fail, for over 30 years.
Eddy Lepp & Jack 6/09
He also contends that the U.S. government deliberately hides the proof of hemp's benefits. He tried to take his message all the way to the top, twice running for President of the United States (1988 and 1992) as the Grassroots Party candidate.
Born on June 18, 1939, in NY, NY, Jack is well known as one of the first American Cannabis activists. His book, The Emperor Wears No Clothes, has been a catalyst in the advocacy to decriminalize cannabis since the first edition was published in 1985.
Over 600,000 books have been sold, and an online version is available on his site, for easy access to a treasure trove of educational research. By selling his books, tapes, CDs and movies, Jack has helped support the hemp movement for the last 20+ years.
Many know Jack Herer's name for something even more notorious, a specific strain of cannabis named after him with sativa dominant characteristics. This is a genre he understands, and has contributed to greatly.
Jack won the seventh High Times Cannabis Cup, the "Academy Awards of Marijuana", the festival held annually in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, probably the most famous cannabis event among tourists, consumers and cannabis-oriented businesses worldwide.
Yes, Jack's made quite a name for himself.
Cannabis Cup
Jack Herer was the first to "put your money where your mouth is". He offered a reward of $100,000 to anyone that could prove marijuana had killed a user. For over a dozen years, no one has tried to collect.
"It is the safest, smartest, best medicine on the planet," Jack said at HempStalk. "You'd have to be stupid not to use it!"
In his book, Jack reiterates it's low risk use, "A smoker would theoretically have to consume nearly 1,500 pounds of marijuana within about fifteen minutes to induce a lethal response." This is true, yet the public is still under another impression.
It didn't start out that way though.
Every one has heard that America's founding fathers grew hemp. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, just to get started. But most people don't know why things changed, or when. Jack found this to be very terribly important, as should every social studies class in the nation. Worthy of note, just to connect some dots, are the towns of HEMPstead, Long Island; HEMPstead County, Arkansas; HEMPstead, Texas; HEMPhill, North Carolina, HEMPfield, Pennsylvania, all named for hemp.
Heard of canvas? That would be cloth made from, you guessed it: cannabis. Levi Strauss thought it was pretty good stuff. So did the pioneers that covered their wagons with it.
Here is some hemp trivia, provided by Jack Herer:
Until about 1800, hempseed oil was the most consumed lighting oil in America and the world.
Until the 1870s, it was the second-most consumed lighting oil, exceeded only by whale oil. It was then replaced by petroleum, kerosene, etc., after the 1859 Pennsylvania oil discovery and John D. Rockefeller’s 1870-on national petroleum stewardship.
In 1850 there were 8,327 hemp plantations (minimum 2,000-acre farms) growing cannabis hemp for cloth, canvas and even the cordage used for baling cotton.
In 1865, there were no slaves to harvest hemp, and no machinery to do the job. Most of the plantations were located in the South or in the border states, and the lack of labor defused the hemp industry in the United States, and from that point, most of our hemp came from outside the country.
By 1916, the USDA forecast that a decorticating and harvesting machine would be developed, and hemp would again be America’s largest agricultural industry.
As predicted, in 1916, 50-year-old George Schlichten created a simple yet brilliant invention. He spent 18 years and $400,000 on the decorticator, a machine that could strip the fiber from nearly any plant, leaving the pulp behind. WWI took a toll on the economy though, and the decorticator was shelved.
It resurfaced in the 1930's, when it was touted as the machine that would make hemp a “Billion Dollar Crop”. Once again, the burgeoning hemp industry was halted, this time by the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937.
In 1935 alone, 116 million pounds (58,000 tons) of hempseed were used in America just for paint and varnish. The hemp drying oil business went principally to DuPont petro-chemicals.
Until 1937, 70-90% of all rope, twine, and cordage was made from hemp. It was then replaced mostly by petrochemical fibers (owned principally by DuPont) and by Manila (Abaca) Hemp.
In 1938, Popular Mechanics and Mechanical Engineering introduced a new generation of investors to fully operational hemp decorticating devices. Because of this machine, both publications said that hemp would soon be America’s number-one crop. The agriculture industry was the last to know, that hemp was about to be criminalized.
In 1942, after the Japanese invasion of the Philippines cut off the supply of Manila hemp, the U.S. government distributed 400,000 pounds of cannabis seeds to American farmers who produced 42,000 tons of hemp fiber annually until 1946 when the war ended.
And then, prohibition against marijuana, a term few Americans had ever heard for hemp/cannabis, was put into practice.
These simple facts are but a side bar for the encyclopedia of information Jack and his team have produced over the years.
In Portland, September 12th, 2009, Jack Herer walked on stage and did what he does best. He fervently, directly and without mincing any words, told the crowd just how he feels about who he believes to be the real criminals- those that have upheld prohibition, benefited from it, violated the rights of Americans- and those that would tax cannabis.
Jack's got an opinion, and people can't help but listen. He is regarded as the most well known hemp activist in the world, and any one that's spoken with him has felt his sincerity.
The people that work and travel with Jack watched him on stage. They said he was impassioned, but no more "worked up" than he'd been two weeks earlier in Seattle at Hempfest. "And it was hotter in Seattle, too," one friend noted.
After telling several people, including myself, throughout the day just how good he was feeling, even walking without assistance (his stroke damaged his right side), his sudden collapse after leaving the stage that day was a shock.
He was immediately attended to by his friends and collegues, who were sitting near him after he left the stage area, when he slumped over in his chair and it was clear he had fallen ill. There was no ambulance on the grounds, and it took 20-25 minutes for one to make it's way to Kelley Point Park, and through to the back stage area. Jack had been receiving CPR until their arrival, and was taken by lifeflight to Emanuel Hospital.
Family and friends have not left his side. Supporters, fans and well-wishers from around the globe have shared their positive vibes, prayers and even personal stories in order to give strength to the power of Jack.
After his stroke in 2000, Jack made a remarkable recovery. Supporters say they've seen it before, and they want to see it again.
A firm believer in Rick Simpson's Hemp Oil, Jack was bound for Europe next month to go on tour with Rick, speaking to large groups about the medicinal values of Hemp Oil. Jack planned to share his own success story, but Jack's right-hand man, Chuck Jacobs, will be there in his stead. Jack would not want the momentum to slow, just because he's taking some time off. He's got a lot of irons in the fire and they aren't likely to cool down any time soon. The Emperor would not be pleased.
Jack Herer has said, "It’s time we put capitalism to the test and let the unrestricted market of supply and demand, as well as “Green” ecological consciousness, decide the future of the planet." And thus, his legislative iniative was born.
Recently filed in Sacramento, California, The Jack Herer Cannabis Hemp & Health Initiative spells out what Jack has been preaching for all these years.
One quote from the Initiative says, "No permit, license, or tax shall be required for the non-commercial cultivation, transportation, distribution, or consumption of cannabis hemp." He hasn't faltered; he insists on decriminalization without taxation.
And now it will be up to the people, to decide whether or not the government should cross the line into taxation of hemp/cannabis. Or, perhaps that's not the question, perhaps the question is, do you trust the government? One thing's for sure, Jack says No.
As if written specifically to support Jack's position, some final words from Abraham Lincoln: “Prohibition goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it attempts to control a man’s appetite by legislation and makes a crime out of things that are not crimes. A prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded.” (December, 1840)
Good luck Jack. Get well soon.
Jack Herer is recovering from a heart attack, but his mission to bring hemp into the spotlight as an answer for multiple problems, continues.
Jack Herer
Author and activist Jack Herer is a leader in the hemp and marijuana decriminalization movement.
(SALEM, Ore.) - Jack Herer is a very resilient fellow. 40 years ago he was a Goldwater Republican. Nine years ago he suffered a minor heart attack, and a major stroke.
All these calamities and more, he survived.
But his fight continues. For the last four weeks, Jack has been in a Portland Oregon hospital, slowly recovering from a heart attack. On Monday, he was discharged from Legacy Emanuel Hospital, and his family moved him to a nursing facility in Eugene, according to Oregonlive.com.
Exactly one month ago, Jack was stricken by a heart attack. So, each day, the challenge is no less than the day before. The challenge to bring Jack back.
He was in a medically induced coma for several days, on the critical list in ICU for nearly three weeks. Over time, he showed some improvements. His EEG (brain scan) showed more activity, and he would open his eyes. He stretched his arms and legs, yawned, turned his head from side to side. They removed the respirator.
Last week he was taken off the Critical list, moved out of ICU, and remains in stable condition. Stable enough, it seems, to be moved to another facility.
Still though, there has been no word from Jack. "He is waking up and gazing appropriately when someone's talking," Paul Stanford (THCF) said, "but he's not really communicating in any way."
We've been told that Jack responds to touch, has squeezed the hands of close friends and family, and that he even sat up in bed one day when his daughter came into the room. None of this means he's okay. It just means he's still with us, and working on recovery.
Jack is a devoted man. He has devoted his life to the cause to decriminalize hemp and cannabis. He stands strong on the belief that the cannabis sativa (hemp/marijuana) plant should be decriminalized, having been proven to be a renewable source of fuel, food and medicine, and he's been telling the story without fail, for over 30 years.
Eddy Lepp & Jack 6/09
He also contends that the U.S. government deliberately hides the proof of hemp's benefits. He tried to take his message all the way to the top, twice running for President of the United States (1988 and 1992) as the Grassroots Party candidate.
Born on June 18, 1939, in NY, NY, Jack is well known as one of the first American Cannabis activists. His book, The Emperor Wears No Clothes, has been a catalyst in the advocacy to decriminalize cannabis since the first edition was published in 1985.
Over 600,000 books have been sold, and an online version is available on his site, for easy access to a treasure trove of educational research. By selling his books, tapes, CDs and movies, Jack has helped support the hemp movement for the last 20+ years.
Many know Jack Herer's name for something even more notorious, a specific strain of cannabis named after him with sativa dominant characteristics. This is a genre he understands, and has contributed to greatly.
Jack won the seventh High Times Cannabis Cup, the "Academy Awards of Marijuana", the festival held annually in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, probably the most famous cannabis event among tourists, consumers and cannabis-oriented businesses worldwide.
Yes, Jack's made quite a name for himself.
Cannabis Cup
Jack Herer was the first to "put your money where your mouth is". He offered a reward of $100,000 to anyone that could prove marijuana had killed a user. For over a dozen years, no one has tried to collect.
"It is the safest, smartest, best medicine on the planet," Jack said at HempStalk. "You'd have to be stupid not to use it!"
In his book, Jack reiterates it's low risk use, "A smoker would theoretically have to consume nearly 1,500 pounds of marijuana within about fifteen minutes to induce a lethal response." This is true, yet the public is still under another impression.
It didn't start out that way though.
Every one has heard that America's founding fathers grew hemp. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, just to get started. But most people don't know why things changed, or when. Jack found this to be very terribly important, as should every social studies class in the nation. Worthy of note, just to connect some dots, are the towns of HEMPstead, Long Island; HEMPstead County, Arkansas; HEMPstead, Texas; HEMPhill, North Carolina, HEMPfield, Pennsylvania, all named for hemp.
Heard of canvas? That would be cloth made from, you guessed it: cannabis. Levi Strauss thought it was pretty good stuff. So did the pioneers that covered their wagons with it.
Here is some hemp trivia, provided by Jack Herer:
Until about 1800, hempseed oil was the most consumed lighting oil in America and the world.
Until the 1870s, it was the second-most consumed lighting oil, exceeded only by whale oil. It was then replaced by petroleum, kerosene, etc., after the 1859 Pennsylvania oil discovery and John D. Rockefeller’s 1870-on national petroleum stewardship.
In 1850 there were 8,327 hemp plantations (minimum 2,000-acre farms) growing cannabis hemp for cloth, canvas and even the cordage used for baling cotton.
In 1865, there were no slaves to harvest hemp, and no machinery to do the job. Most of the plantations were located in the South or in the border states, and the lack of labor defused the hemp industry in the United States, and from that point, most of our hemp came from outside the country.
By 1916, the USDA forecast that a decorticating and harvesting machine would be developed, and hemp would again be America’s largest agricultural industry.
As predicted, in 1916, 50-year-old George Schlichten created a simple yet brilliant invention. He spent 18 years and $400,000 on the decorticator, a machine that could strip the fiber from nearly any plant, leaving the pulp behind. WWI took a toll on the economy though, and the decorticator was shelved.
It resurfaced in the 1930's, when it was touted as the machine that would make hemp a “Billion Dollar Crop”. Once again, the burgeoning hemp industry was halted, this time by the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937.
In 1935 alone, 116 million pounds (58,000 tons) of hempseed were used in America just for paint and varnish. The hemp drying oil business went principally to DuPont petro-chemicals.
Until 1937, 70-90% of all rope, twine, and cordage was made from hemp. It was then replaced mostly by petrochemical fibers (owned principally by DuPont) and by Manila (Abaca) Hemp.
In 1938, Popular Mechanics and Mechanical Engineering introduced a new generation of investors to fully operational hemp decorticating devices. Because of this machine, both publications said that hemp would soon be America’s number-one crop. The agriculture industry was the last to know, that hemp was about to be criminalized.
In 1942, after the Japanese invasion of the Philippines cut off the supply of Manila hemp, the U.S. government distributed 400,000 pounds of cannabis seeds to American farmers who produced 42,000 tons of hemp fiber annually until 1946 when the war ended.
And then, prohibition against marijuana, a term few Americans had ever heard for hemp/cannabis, was put into practice.
These simple facts are but a side bar for the encyclopedia of information Jack and his team have produced over the years.
In Portland, September 12th, 2009, Jack Herer walked on stage and did what he does best. He fervently, directly and without mincing any words, told the crowd just how he feels about who he believes to be the real criminals- those that have upheld prohibition, benefited from it, violated the rights of Americans- and those that would tax cannabis.
Jack's got an opinion, and people can't help but listen. He is regarded as the most well known hemp activist in the world, and any one that's spoken with him has felt his sincerity.
The people that work and travel with Jack watched him on stage. They said he was impassioned, but no more "worked up" than he'd been two weeks earlier in Seattle at Hempfest. "And it was hotter in Seattle, too," one friend noted.
After telling several people, including myself, throughout the day just how good he was feeling, even walking without assistance (his stroke damaged his right side), his sudden collapse after leaving the stage that day was a shock.
He was immediately attended to by his friends and collegues, who were sitting near him after he left the stage area, when he slumped over in his chair and it was clear he had fallen ill. There was no ambulance on the grounds, and it took 20-25 minutes for one to make it's way to Kelley Point Park, and through to the back stage area. Jack had been receiving CPR until their arrival, and was taken by lifeflight to Emanuel Hospital.
Family and friends have not left his side. Supporters, fans and well-wishers from around the globe have shared their positive vibes, prayers and even personal stories in order to give strength to the power of Jack.
After his stroke in 2000, Jack made a remarkable recovery. Supporters say they've seen it before, and they want to see it again.
A firm believer in Rick Simpson's Hemp Oil, Jack was bound for Europe next month to go on tour with Rick, speaking to large groups about the medicinal values of Hemp Oil. Jack planned to share his own success story, but Jack's right-hand man, Chuck Jacobs, will be there in his stead. Jack would not want the momentum to slow, just because he's taking some time off. He's got a lot of irons in the fire and they aren't likely to cool down any time soon. The Emperor would not be pleased.
Jack Herer has said, "It’s time we put capitalism to the test and let the unrestricted market of supply and demand, as well as “Green” ecological consciousness, decide the future of the planet." And thus, his legislative iniative was born.
Recently filed in Sacramento, California, The Jack Herer Cannabis Hemp & Health Initiative spells out what Jack has been preaching for all these years.
One quote from the Initiative says, "No permit, license, or tax shall be required for the non-commercial cultivation, transportation, distribution, or consumption of cannabis hemp." He hasn't faltered; he insists on decriminalization without taxation.
And now it will be up to the people, to decide whether or not the government should cross the line into taxation of hemp/cannabis. Or, perhaps that's not the question, perhaps the question is, do you trust the government? One thing's for sure, Jack says No.
As if written specifically to support Jack's position, some final words from Abraham Lincoln: “Prohibition goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it attempts to control a man’s appetite by legislation and makes a crime out of things that are not crimes. A prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded.” (December, 1840)
Good luck Jack. Get well soon.
