DETROIT – Weed, marijuana, cannabis, the “devil’s lettuce,” reefer madness, are all relatively well known terms in today’s society. With modern times bringing modern solutions to age-old “problems,” the public opinion of marijuana is shifting.

This is a good thing, with decriminalization of a substance that is arguably more safe than drinking alcohol, to full blown legalization on a state level in the United States. Several countries across the world have already been far ahead of the game with full legalization of the recreational use of Cannabis, with many others having legalized the use of marijuana medicinally. 

Marijuana use has often been linked as being the ‘gateway’ to a rock-n-roll wildlife of unsuccess, but this is not true.

Many, many people across the United States and the world partake in the lovely effects of the green bud like space junkie buds. In fact, as many as 200 million people use marijuana across the world. That is almost 4 percent of the global population! Statistically speaking, 50 million of those users are found in the United States, ranking up to about 18 percent of Americans using pot at one time or another. 

Cannabis is the Most Used Forbidden Substance in the World

There is a measure of promise to gain when legalizing marijuana. With it comes safety for those who use it. A safe place to buy and a guarantee of what they are buying with no fear of laced, bad, or stale weed. Regulation of Cannabis can even help states function better. The taxation of marijuana sales helps everything such as; public safety and health programs, schools, social services, transportation and natural resource management programs. 

Truly, it is a medicinal product of nature as well. In 1890, Sir J. Russell Reynolds, the private doctor of Queen Victoria stated that pure cannabis was one of the most valuable medicines that they possessed at the time. Although marijuana is not for everyone, it can help many people in a variety of ways, these uses include: helping people with anxiety management, relief of chronic pain, helping those after chemo increase appetite, with other strains that can help regulate insulin and caloric intake, it can help with PTSD symptoms, slow Alzheimer’s disease, and much more. 

10 Successful and Famous Pot Smokers

All of these ways that marijuana can help people and society as whole and it still comes around with a negative stigma. As this light is shed upon Cannabis’s promising future, knowing that some of the most influential people in the world also smoke can help end this negative perception. Here is a list of some well known 420 lovers that most of the world knows of.

Snoop Dog

Snoop Dogg is most certainly one of the very best names to relate to with feeling a good and proper high. During his entire career as a rapper, he has promoted the use of marijuana since his very first song! In fact, he is a very influential supporter of all the possibilities of marijuana and has invested in several cannabis startups. 

Snoop ven has a blunt roller on his staff, to roll blunts for him for $40,000 a year, what a job! Snoop has gotten high with a list of celebrities, such as, Jadakiss, Miley Cyrus, Willie Nelson, Pete Davidson, Soulja Boy, Seth Rogan, and allegedly even Barack Obama. As of 2022, and at the very prime age of 49, he has a net worth of $150 million dollars.

Joe Rogan

Joe Rogan is a very well known podcast front runner with over 10 million subscribers. In his life he has done many things including; martial arts, acting, comedy, and being a UFC commentator. He has smoked on air with several famous and wealthy people across the board like, Wiz Khalifa, Elon Musk, Reggie Watts, Post Malone, and Mike Tyson. A couple of these people are also featured on this list of successful pot smokers because as everyone knows, “Great Minds Think Alike”.

Rogan has an active user engagement on Spotify with almost 200 million listeners a month! He creates 3-hour long discussions with his guests on his podcast, going over a variety of topics. He is a strong supporter of Cannabis legalization and the use of psychoactive drugs, like DMT; for PTSD, depression, and recreational use. There are multiple videos of him online smoking cannabis using the popular King Palm preroll cone. Joe Rogan has a successful net worth of $100 million dollars. 

Berner

Enter the entrepreneur and rapper, Berner. His name is actually Gilbert Anthony Milam, Junior and he is the brand founder of Cookies Clothing. They create lines of accessories such as; “smell proof” backpacks, duffle bags, lunch bags, clothing, and more.He is also said to be part of other marijuana companies and is active in the cannabis trade market. 

Berner is part of the marijuana geneticists, the “Cookie Family”. They are a California based group that is part of the production of popular weed strains that many people have smoked. These strains include the often sought after “Sunset Sherbet” and “Girl Scout Cookies”. Making a name for himself in the rap industry, taking a stand in the marijuana industry, and a known toker, Berner comes in with a net worth of $20 million dollars.

Elon Musk

Who doesn’t know of the only person in the world seemingly obsessed with colonizing mars? Elon Musk is a very well and widely known figurehead in many communities across the globe. Becoming one of the richest people in the world by being the front-runner in the electric car industry and seemingly able to beat NASA at their own game. He is a figure to be reckoned with. 

However, with that reckoning comes his ever illusive 15-second puff-puff-pass on the Joe Rogan Podcast. Unfortunately for Musk, the world reacted very negatively to his behavior here! TESLA stock went down 9% after that podcast was released and he was chastised repeatedly by large companies and business people everywhere. This reaction was entirely unfair and NASA even investigated TESLA for breaking company policy. All of this even though the interview took place in California, where marijuana is completely legal. Elon Musk supports a society that is more open-minded regarding psychedelics and marijuana. He has a net worth of $244 billion dollars. 

The Diaz Brothers

Nick and Nate Diaz are professional MMA fighters for UFC. Nick Diaz has a MMA record of 26 wins out of 37 matches while Nate was crowned the winner of Ultimate Fighter 5. Nick Diaz was found to have tested positive for marijuana before a 2007 fight. This led to the fight being labeled as ‘No Contest”, a fine given, and a 6 month suspension. In 2015, he was found to have tested positive again for marijuana, which had been labeled as a performance enhancing drug by allowing a fighter to feel less pain. For this he was suspended for 5 years. After an appeal to that sentence was reduced to 18 months and a large fine of $100,000 was paid. Nick Diaz returned for a fight in 2021.  

Today, the street savvy brawlers teach Brazilian jiu-jitsu in Lodi, California. Nick and Nate Diaz are huge supporters of cannabis. They stood out in an industry where use of marijuana is frowned upon by repeatedly standing up against the establishment. Game Up Nutrition is a CBD company the brothers have founded and they have a licensed line of marijuana CBD pre-rolls under California’s Finest. Together, the Diaz brother’s have a collective net worth of $11 million dollars.

Seth Rogan

Seth Rogan may be Hollywood’s most famous pot smoker, even claiming he has smoked all day, everyday for the last 25 years. With a hit stoner movie like Pineapple Express, Seth Rogan is undoubtedly high, all the time. Creating the cult classic, Superbad, he states he writes high, drinks his coffee high, and goes to bed high. 

From acting, directing, writing, and producing, Rogan has even started his own cannabis brand, Houseplant and Housegoods in 2019. Houseplant sells cannabis in California and has 7 strains, while Housegoods sells ashtrays, pottery, and lighters all designed by Seth himself. He has even stated that he is cool with his employees smoking weed while at work at Houseplant. Almost everything he has done has involved some version of being high, getting high, getting others high, or supporting being high. As of today, he has a net worth of $80 million dollars.

Jay-Z

Jay-Z is one of rap’s most looked up to and influential hip-hop artists in history. Though his professional name may be Jay-Z, his actual name is Shawn Corey Carter. He was the CEO of Def Jam Recordings and was behind some of the most well known names in the rap game such as Kayne West and Rihanna. He even put a ring on Beyonce. He started the clothing line Rocawear, began the luxury sports bar the 40/40 Club, and created the entertainment company Roc Nation. He is a strong supporter of weed and calls the war on drugs an epic fail (and he isn’t wrong about that). Now, he has started the luxury weed brand, Monogram. Here, he sells his own weed, pre-rolls, and the well-known $50 handroll.

In Monogram, Jay-Z has bought a 100,000-square-foot-facility where 11,000 pounds of marijuana are produced in a single year! Located in California, where 1.5 million legal weed transactions for marijuana took place in 2020 alone. This figure is set to go up as the ever growing understanding of marijuana begins to settle into the mainstream. Jay-Z lives with his wife and 3 kids in a custom built $88 million dollar home. Jay-Z is the first hip-hop billionaire, raking in a net worth of $1.4 billion dollars. 

Bill Maher

Bill Maher is a well known comedian, political commentator, and television host. Most people know him for his political HBO show, Real Time with Bill Maher. Starting like so many people do, he began selling weed in college to make money on the side. He has smoked weed for most of his life and uses it to help create. Bill Maher has stated that it makes work into games, creating assignments into enjoyable tasks. He even used his standing to light-up, live on television and get high back in 2015. However, he has stated that he is a part-time toker, smoking 2 -3 times a week.

Currently, Maher is part of the Marijuana Policy Project and NORML, both which support and work on marijuana policy reformation. He even got the award for “Stoner of the Year” by High Times in 2006. Success for this man comes in at a salary of $10 million dollars a year with a net worth of $140 million dollars. He also owns 2 homes in California, collectively valued at over $20 million dollars.

Michael Phelps

With nicknames like The Baltimore Bullet and Flying Fish, Michael Phelps is a former Olympian athlete who stirred up controversy. His controversy was a simple photo of him ripping a bong at a party in 2009. This led to a 3 month suspension by USA Swimming and a loss of his Kellog’s sponsorship. Phelps made millions during his active Olympian swimming career from 2000 – 2016. He had sponsors, such as; Louis Vuitton, Under Armour, Colgate, Visa, and, of course, Speedo.  

Considered as one of the best swimmers of all time, a little bit of pot smoking obviously didn’t hold Michael Phelps back. He married the love of his life, has 3 kids, started a foundation, won 28 medals, and appeared in a popular television show, Suits. Phelps is the most decorated Olympian to date and has an estimated net worth of $80 million dollars. 

Whiz Khalifa

Born in North Dakota as Cameron Jibril Thomaz, Wiz Khalifa has been recording in the studio since he was 15. His song, Black and Yellow, sky-rocketed him to fame in 2010. Of course, the album name was Rolling Papers, already signifying his love and support for weed. He has even created a marijuana game called “Wiz Khalifa’s Weed Farm”. 

Khalifa has created his own strain of weed, Khalifa Kush, by partnering with the previously mentioned Cookie Company. He has stated that he loves being part of the growing process. Wiz partnered with the RAW brand and created his own line of rolling papers. Khalifa OG is a strain of weed that came from partnering with River Rock Cannabis. Partnering with marijuana for Wiz Khalifa is a way of life, as he brings the things he loves together. He has a net worth of $60 million dollars. 

Honorable Celebrity Mentions of Successful and Renowned Pot Smokers

It may not seem that obvious yet, but success in life is often given to those who work hard. Smoking pot is not going to hold you back from wonderful things in life. Here are some honorable mentions of the lifestyles of the rich and famous who partake in some ganja: Morgan Freeman, Megan Fox, Drake, Kristen Stewart, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Amy Poehler, Dave Chappelle, Justin Timberlake, and Woody Harrelson. 

Former President Bill Clinton even experimented with marijuana while in England in the 1960’s. However, to make sure he didn’t break any international laws he said he didn’t inhale. Maya Angelou enjoyed life on the high side, even talking about it in her autobiography. Sometimes, everyone needs a break and whether that means to turn off the brain, get creative, or just feel better, smoking a little weed from time to time has never hurt anyone.

Smoking Marijuana Should Be Destrigmatized

Marijuana has been found in archeological sites around the world and has been used by all our ancestors for centuries. There have been preserved findings of marijuana at a shrine in the Negev desert, possibly dating back to 760 B.C. Remains of burnt cannabis have been found in braziers at the Jirzankal Cemetery in China from the 8th century. The Eberus Papyrus, dating to 1550 B.C., explicitly mentions the act of using cannabis as an aid for childbirth. The Hindu god Shiva is stated to like marijuana from 15th century scriptures. 

The judgment behind marijuana use is outdated. Laws should be changed on a federal level in the United States and around the world to reflect this. Only in the early 1900’s did the push to make marijuana illegal occur. It only became federally illegal in the United States in 1937, as the government wanted to take the view away from The Great Depression and put it on the “Marijuana Menace.” All of our ancestors had the free will to drink, take psychoactives, and smoke tobacco and marijuana. These unfair and unwanted laws do nothing but divide and hold mankind back. No one should have to feel dirty, indecent, or shameful when it is found out that they smoke pot. There are people who use marijuana from all walks of life in places all over the world. It is clear that marijuana does not make people unsuccessful, that in fact, many very successful people smoke weed. 

This column was provided by Jesus Sanchez.