You can’t spell POTUS without “pot.” History tells us that United States Presidents have been doing drugs since the beginning. George Washington reportedly relied on the opiate, laudanum, for chronic pain treatment. Abraham Lincoln allegedly took mercury which caused mood swings and eventual mercury poisoning. There’s a famous story of Willie Nelson smoking weed on the roof of the White House during Jimmy Carter’s administration. Many presidents and other notable politicians in the US have acknowledged cannabis use – some prior to decriminalization, some legally. Social views and legislation alike have changed many times over the years with regard to cannabis, so let’s start with a quick history lesson.
It started when Christopher Columbus set sail in 1492, as he reportedly had a ton of weed seeds on board. Prior to the turn of the 20th century when states began to prohibit the use of cannabis, it was not uncommon for weed to be grown and consumed in the US. Many of the nation’s Founding Fathers and early presidents even grew hemp! Initially grown for industrial purposes, cannabis was also used medicinally in the early 19th century. Recreational consumption began to grow in the early 20th century, until the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 levied taxes and regulations with heavy penalties.
During World War II, The Department of Agriculture launched a “Hemp for Victory” campaign which registered acres and acres of hemp to be used to create ropes, parachutes, and other equipment to support the war effort. During the 1950s, Congress passed several laws which created mandatory sentencing and increased punishment for cannabis use. In the 1960s, social perception and attitudes towards cannabis and other substances began to evolve, and more and more people started smoking pot. This decade of upheaval and social change brought with it the repeal of the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act. In 1972, President Nixon’s National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse recommended that cannabis be decriminalized. As a result, several states lessened their penalties against weed with some even decriminalizing it fully.
Things turned back towards the conservative in the 80s with Reagan’s War on Drugs, the effects of which have had a devastating impact and disproportionately affected BIPOC communities. The Reagan administration increased federal penalties for cannabis growing, possession, and transfer. President Reagan even once said, “I now have absolute proof that smoking even one marijuana cigarette is equal in brain damage to being on Bikini Island during an H-bomb blast.” To this day, cannabis is still federally classified as a Schedule I drug. Schedule 1 is the highest level, indicating “high potential for abuse and addiction,” claiming that cannabis is “not safe to use, even under medical supervision” and that it “has no accepted medical use,” even though it has been used medicinally and recreationally around the world for centuries. With such a varied history of cannabis culture in the US, which presidents lit up?
Presidents of the Puff Puff Past
George Washington
The nation’s first president, George Washington, kept meticulous diaries, wherein he noted that he grew special hemp in a muddy hole by the swamp, a separate area away from where he grew hemp for fiber. Washington’s writings indicate he may have been using hemp for toothaches and even purposely harvesting female plants with higher THC content for medicinal purposes. He was also said to have preferred a pipe full of hemp to drinking alcohol. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson are reported to have sometimes traded a few nugs as a gesture of friendship.
Thomas Jefferson
The well-traveled Thomas Jefferson was known for spending time in France during its hashish heyday and cultivating hemp, and legend has it he once smuggled cannabis seeds to the US from China. Do we have proof that he smoked? No. Do we have proof he didn’t? Also no.
James Madison
The fourth president of the United States, James Madison, once credited weed for giving him insights into the work of creating a new democracy. History is dope!
James Monroe
James Monroe openly smoked both hashish and grass, and continued the practice until his 70s.
Franklin Pierce
Our fourteenth president, Franklin Pierce, reportedly smoked weed with troops fighting the Mexican-American war, and wrote to his family that weed was “about the only good thing” about the war. Presidents Zachary Taylor and Andrew Jackson also wrote of smoking weed with troops in their letters.
George W Bush
Rumors abound about George W Bush smoking weed during college, and in fact, rumor has it he was arrested in 1972 for cocaine possession. However, Bush once admonished Vice President Al Gore for publicly admitting to cannabis use, saying he wouldn’t have answered “the marijuana questions.” “I don’t want some little kid doing what I tried.”
Bill Clinton
President Bill Clinton said in 1992 that he “experimented with marijuana a time or two” when he was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, although famously claimed that he “didn’t inhale.” Although, according to writer Christopher Hitchens, at Oxford, President Clinton was a big fan of pot brownies.
Barack Obama
Barack Obama is the first president we know of to publicly admit he enjoyed smoking weed. Obama acknowledged frequent cannabis use in his youth, saying “I inhaled frequently. That was the point.” In his memoir, he mentions often getting baked with his friends, who called themselves the “Choom Gang,” during his years in Hawaii. He allegedly also thanked his drug dealer, Ray, in his yearbook.
John F Kennedy
While there’s no official confirmation, according to John F. Kennedy: A Biography by Michael O’Brien, there are rumors JFK used cannabis for back pain. He allegedly once lit up with his mistress, Mary Meyer, remarking after he was solidly high, “imagine if the Russians pulled something now.”
Other Dank Politicians
Kamala Harris
Vice President Kamala Harris has spoken about her belief in legalizing marijuana. “We have incarcerated so many, and particularly young men and young men of color, in a way that we have not for the same level of use among other young men.” When asked if she ever smoked marijuana, VP Harris responded: “I have. And I did inhale. It was a long time ago. I think that it gives a lot of people joy, and we need more joy in the world,” Harris said.
Al Gore
In Inventing Al Gore: A Biography by Bill Turque, there are several anecdotes saying that Vice President Al Gore loved to smoke weed. Friends called him “an enthusiastic recreational user” prior to his political career. John Warnecke, a longtime friend of VP Gore, is quoted as saying “we’d get stoned and talk about what we would do if we were president.” Gore had previously publicly referred to his cannabis usage as “infrequent and rare.”
Bernie Sanders
Senator Bernie Sanders has said publicly that he smoked marijuana twice and it didn’t quite work for him. “I coughed a lot. It’s not my thing, but it is the thing of a whole lot of people.” Bernie is totally pro-cannabis however, saying “if you want to make the argument that maybe marijuana is less harmful to health than tobacco, I think you’d probably be making a correct argument.”