The Emperor Wears No Clothes


The Emperor Wears No Clothes is a non-fiction book written by Jack Herer. Starting in 1973, the story begins when Herer takes the advice of his friend, "Captain" Ed Adair, and begins compiling tidbits of information about the Cannabis plant and its numerous uses, including as hemp and as a drug. After a dozen years of collecting and compiling historical data, Herer first published his work as The Emperor Wears No Clothes, in 1985. The twelfth edition was published in November 2010, and the book continues to be cited in Cannabis rescheduling and re-legalization efforts.
The book, backed by H.E.M.P., Hanf Haus, Sensi Seeds/Hash, Marihuana & Hemp Museum, Amsterdam,, and T.H.C., the Texas Hemp Campaign, offers $100,000 to anyone who can disprove the claims made within. Quoting from the book's back cover:
The title of the book alludes to Hans Christian Andersen's classic fairy tale "The Emperor's New Clothes". Herer uses Andersen's story as an allegory for the current prohibition of Cannabis.
European expert on hemp and author of the doctoral thesis Crop physiology of fibre hemp, Dr. Hayo M.G. van der Werf criticized the book for containing some inaccuracies, stating, "Although most of the information contained in the book is valid, some of its claims are clearly incorrect."