Chris Conrad (Author)

Chris Conrad
Conrad speaking at the 2014 Seattle Hempfest
Born	(1953-03-10)March 10, 1953 Lafayette, Indiana, United States
Alma mater	California State University, Dominguez Hills
Occupation	Author, publisher, museum curator, drug policy activist, expert witness
Website	chrisconrad.com

Chris Conrad (born March 10, 1953) is an American author, activist, curator, publisher and court-recognized expert in cannabis cultivation and use. He has played a key role in the shaping of the modern industrial and medical cannabis reform movements as the author of such seminal books as Hemp: Lifeline to the Future (1993) and Hemp for Health (1997), as well as through his activist work as the co-founder and first President of the Hemp Industries Association (HIA), founder of the Business Alliance in Commerce and Hemp (BACH), and the signature gathering coordinator for the Proposition 215 volunteer effort which made California the first US state to legalize the medical use of cannabis. The December, 1999 issue of High Times ranked Conrad #10 on its list of top 25 "living legends in the battle for legal cannabis."

Conrad's writing career began when he designed and edited a revised edition of the hemp prohibition classic The Emperor Wears No Clothes by Jack Herer in 1990. He followed this with the publication of Hemp: Lifeline to the Future (1993), which was subsequently translated into Italian, and Hemp for Health (1997), which was subsequently translated into Spanish, Portuguese, Czech and German. He is also the author of Cannabis Yields and Dosages (2004) and Nostradamus and the Attack on New York.

Conrad has co-authored two books with collaborators Virginia Resner and his wife Mikki Norris: Shattered Lives: Portraits From America's Drug War and Human Rights and the US Drug War.

In 2007, Conrad contributed a chapter on cannabis history to Pourquoi & Comment Cultiver Du Chanvre by Michka, where his writing appeared alongside contributions from other notable authors such as Jorge Cervantes, Raphael Mechoulam and Stephen Jay Gould.

In 1989, Conrad and his wife Mikki Norris co-founded the American Hemp Council, with the purpose of educating the American public on the many uses of industrial hemp and the laws against the crop in the United States.