06. Jack Herer and the Anatomy of a Conspiracy Theory
A "typical" nineteenth century hashish house and other bullshit, Part II
Dear Readers:
Last time, I told you about the “Hemperor” Jack Herer, a much-beloved figure in the world of cannabis activism. From the 1980s until his death in 2010, he played a key role in the movement to end the badly misguided and extremely harmful war on cannabis. He thus did a lot of good in his lifetime and, accordingly, is remembered with great admiration by many.
But he also took a lot of liberties with the historical record in order to argue that marijuana’s twentieth-century prohibition was not only ludicrous, but the product of a wicked conspiracy by the greedy and powerful.
This matters because Herer’s version of cannabis history has been extremely influential. For example, Herer is responsible for the widespread belief that the word “marijuana” is racist. It’s not. But that belief has become so pervasive that various states have passed laws to erase the word from the official record.
I’ll tell you more about that at some point (I’ve recently written about it here), but rig…
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