THE EMPEROR OF HEMP

(1939-2010) Author of The Emperor Wears No Clothes, Herer was a powerhouse speaker at rallies and events who inspired tens of thousands of people to become activists. His theory that marijuana prohibition was the result of a conspiracy to suppress hemp and replace it with fossil fuel and synthetic products is still debated. He was the darling of High Times magazine, a fixture at the Amsterdam Cannabis Cup and helped popularize “420” as a code for cannabis use. Herer co-authored the California Hemp Initiative and worked year after year to put it on the state ballot from 1990 to 2010 but never succeeded. Sensi Seed Bank bred a cannabis strain and named it after Herer.

PETER PAN OF POT

(1945-2018) aka the “Peter Pan of Pot,” Peron was a dealer and gay rights / medical marijuana activist who was shot by police during a marijuana raid but went on to help author and pass San Francisco Prop P and afterwards opened the first locally sanctioned Cannabis Buyers Club. A co-author of ballot measure Proposition 215, the first successful medical marijuana law in the USA, Peron’s club was raided by state police at the height of the campaign and shut down but the measure passed and Peron continued to work with the underground industry. He went on to oppose two statewide adult legalization initiatives, Prop 19 in 2010 and Prop 64 in 2016. Peron coined the controversial claim that “all use is medical use.” After he died, Peron was honored by the state legislature.

DOCTOR TOD

(1933-2007) aka “Dr. Tod,” was a Japanese American who was put into an internment camp during WWII. He used that experience to propel him into a life fighting injustice. He researched cannabis in the early 1960s and first tried hash on a 1966 trip to Morocco. As a physician and psychiatrist, he served as a consultant to President Nixon’s blue ribbon Shafer Commission and wrote the book, Marijuana Medical Papers, 1832-1972 and encouraged cannabis as a safer alternative to alcohol. Mikuriya produced a list of medical conditions for which he felt cannabis use could be helpful. A co-author of Prop 215, and the first and quite prolific physician to sign an approval for medical use of marijuana, Dr, Mikuria was targeted by name by the federal government in its crackdown on state laws. He was later attacked by the state medical board and cleared of all claims.

BROWNIE MARY

(1922-1999) Rathbun began selling her “magical brownies” in San Francisco’s Castro district in the 1960s. Later, she became a nurse who became known for her work during the AIDS crisis in the 1980s and discovered that cannabis could help patients beat the wasting syndrome and restore their hope and quality of life. This was a big relief for young men suffering from HIV, so, despite cannabis being illegal, Rathbun continued to provide them with infused brownies when she made her out-patient rounds. Rathbun was arrested while transporting a batch of brownies to her patients. She joined forces with Dennis Peron and became a pioneer of cannabis edible products and a champion of medical use.. Together they wrote the Brownie Mary Cookbook.

MAYOR OF OAKSTERDAM

(1962-2025) Lee is best known as the founder of the world’s first cannabis training school, Oaksterdam University, and for financing and spearheading California’s Proposition 19 in 2010, the first attempt to legalize cannabis for all adults over 21 in the modern era. Although the ballot measure failed by a slim margin, the election led to successful initiatives in 2012 in Colorado and Washington, setting off a wave of legislative change throughout the United States and the rest of the world. In California, it led to the passage of Senate Bill 1449, which further decriminalized cannabis statewide and later Prop 64, which reduced felony arrests by over 80%. Lee founded Legal Marijuana, the Hemp Store in Texas as well as Bulldog Oaksterdam, Oaksterdam Gift Shop, Oaksterdam Nursery, Blue Sky Coffeeshop. He and Chris Conrad founded Oaksterdam News and the Oaksterdam Cannabis Museum.

MENDO MOBILE HEMP MUSEUM

(1940-2014) Davis was an untiring advocate for the beneficial and practical uses of Hemp, and his extensive collection, detailing many of those uses through centuries. He sold marijuana legally in Arizona during a short window when the state’s tax stamp act allowed sales and traveled California with his Mendocino Mobile Hemp Museum on the tailgate of his truck and nearby tables. This laid the groundwork for his U.S.A. Hemp Museum. His work on behalf of Sickle Cell Anemia sufferers, and extensive efforts on behalf of legislation for women’s rights and the legalization of medical marijuana were hallmarks of his life, in addition to authoring several books and numerous articles. He worked with his Life Partner Brenda Kershenbaum to form the World Hemp Foundation and educate people about the many uses of hemp.