Marijuana is called many names, across different cultures, largely due to the fact that it’s been around for over
five thousand years. An estimated 162 million people in the world use cannabis every year, so it shouldn’t be surprising that so many big names touch the green stuff too. Some celebrities are more forthcoming with their love of weed than others — ahem, Willie Nelson — but you might be surprised at a few that fight for the drug’s legalization. Here are 15 of the greatest proponents of marijuana legalization.
Bill Maher
Social critic, comedian and television host Bill Maher gets passionate about what he supports. Along with gay marriage and PETA, he supports the legalization of marijuana quite publicly — although that’s just his style. He’s even on the advisory board for
NORML, and on the 2009 debut of his HBO show
Real Time he proposed just how to solve the economic crisis: by legalizing marijuana.
Adam Carolla
Radio shock jock and television personality Adam Carolla is not a pot
smoker anymore, so he says, but that doesn’t stop him from supporting the cause — he’s even joined the
MPP’s advisory board. He’s said that pot will eventually win the fight: “It has to… We don’t have a bigger fish to fry than pot? It’s going to happen. It’s just going to happen. It will come to pass,” stated Carolla.
Peter Coyote
Peter Coyote, American Renaissance man, has dabbled in acting, directing, and authoring books as well as screenplays. Born to a Jewish family, he has since converted to Zen Buddhism — so it’s understandable that he has a wide cultural experience and mindset. He supports marijuana and believes that “jailing people for the mild alteration of their consciousness will appear to future generations as cruel and draconian as the tortures of the Inquisition appear to us today. May the reputations of today’s jailers suffer the same fate as Torquemada’s reputation today.”
Strong words.
Jack Black
Funny man Jack Black has entertained us with the likes of both film
and music. In a recent interview, he spoke of his own drug use — trying acid and cocaine as early as the
ninth grade. When it comes to pot — he still smokes — but it’s now “an occasional celebratory jay… not a wake-and-bake scenario anymore at all.” Either way, he smokes it, supports it, and is on the MPP advisory board.
Jack Nicholson
Actor, film director, and producer Jack Nicholson is so good at what he does, that he’s been nominated for 12 Academy Awards, and he’s even won two of them. He’s a big voice in Hollywood, so when he says something — people listen. “My point of view, while extremely cogent, is unpopular… That the repressive nature of the legalities vis-a-vis drugs are destroying the legal
system and corrupting the police system.” Cogent may be an understatement, the man can
speak, but what the movement lacks in numbers, guys like Nicholson make up for in words.
Jennifer Aniston
While some may be surprised at the fact that American sweetheart and actress Jennifer Aniston smokes bud, she’s admitted her love for it on several occasions. While she was with actor Brad Pitt, they apparently smoked all the time. Now she will “Enjoy it once in a while — There is nothing wrong with that.” She’s been caught by the paparazzi before,
smoking in private — we’re sure she’d enjoy the legalization.
Jesse Ventura
Retired professional wrestler turned tv show host Jesse Ventura has dabbled in so many different things in his 58 years, no wonder he looks like a wreck now. He’s known to express his support for medical marijuana, but is even more adamant about his support for the complete legalization of the drug. His mother lived through Prohibition, so he took some pointers from her and believes that:
“The war on drugs is a failure for the same reasons Prohibition was a failure… Just imagine if we could find some way for addicts to get their drugs cheaply, safely, and legally. The bottom would drop out of the illegal drug market. We’d see a huge drop in organized and violent crime.”
Johnny Depp
Award-winning actor Johnny Depp has quite an interesting take on drugs, especially marijuana. He was known to take
quite a few drugs in his day — so he speaks from experience. In fact, he’s stated that he wants his kids to get drugs from him if they’re going to try them, instead of some other dealer. He’s been criticized for the statements, but he holds strong and maintains his support for legalization.
Joycelyn Elders, M.D.
Dr. Joycelyn Elders, 15th Surgeon General of the United States, went on to become a professor of pediatrics after she was
fired by former President Clinton for her radical views. And by “radical” views, we mean the support of condom distribution in schools, abortion rights and suggesting the legalization of drugs to reduce the crime rate. She’s on the advisory board for the MPP and supports them “because it is a professional organization attempting to change our destructive marijuana laws.”
Kirsten Dunst
Actress Kirsten Dunst, who gained international fame with her role in
Spiderman as Mary Jane Watson, is known for her views on weed. Not only does she like the drug, but she believes that “America’s view on weed is ridiculous” and that it would make the world “a better place” should weed be legalized.
Michael Bloomberg
Michael Bloomberg, current
Mayor of New York City, has smoked weed before — and “enjoyed it.” Back in April 2002 he was featured in an ad that some campaigners had started circulating in protest to Bloomberg arresting pot-smokers. He wasn’t thrilled that they were using his name and words, but it still stands that he’s fond of the drug. We think he’s in denial for political reasons.
Morgan Freeman
Another award-winning actor in support of legalization, Morgan Freeman still smokes to this day at the ripe age of 72. In an interview with the UK newspaper
The Guardian, the legendary actor told reporters he had given up his use of hard drugs, but that he would never quit his
relationship with Mary Jane. In fact, he referred to marijuana as “God’s own weed.”
Richard Branson
Sir Richard Branson, British industrialist and chairman of Virgin Group, has a net worth of over 2.5 Billion dollars to go with his douchey attitude — but in all fairness, he’s a good douche. He’s one of the world’s richest people, but he spends his money in aggressive, forward-thinking ways. Just look at
Virgin Galactic. Staying true to his out-of-the-box thinking, Branson supports the legalization of marijuana — and said he would even sell it in Virgin stores if it were openly available.
Stephen King
Stephen King,
writer of contemporary horror and suspense, is all for legalization. Instead of avoiding the topic, as many celebrities and politicians do, he embraces it. He thinks that “marijuana should not only be legal [but that] it should be a cottage industry. It would be wonderful for the state of Maine. There’s some pretty good homegrown dope.” If weed were legalized, he also believes that it would be even better, due to the use of commercial fertilizers and greenhouses.
Brad Pitt
Brad Pitt, actor and film producer, calls himself an artist when it comes to rolling a joint. Apparently he has stopped smoking recently because it turns him “into a doughnut,” but he’s been known to publicly support marijuana — he smoked on several movie sets, including
Ocean’s Twelve and
Thelma and Louise. He wants pot legalized as much as he wants gay marriage legalized, and he won’t stop supporting either until changes are made.
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