Jack Herer, founder of the modern marijuana-legalization movement, has died. Herer had a stroke several years ago and a heart attack last year, but never fully recovered. He died late this morning in Eugene, Oregon at the age of 71.

Herer (rhymes with "terror," he used to say) wrote The Emperor Wears No Clothes, a book on the collusion between politicians and the press to prohibit marijuana and the historic uses of industrial hemp. The book is largely credited for reinvigorating the marijuana-law reform movement in the 1990s, leading to a national movement that is now responsible for medical marijuana laws in states across the country, decriminalization in Massachusetts, a legalization initiative on the ballot this year in California, and pretty much all the talk around drug reform that we hear today. He was great.