Marijuana Advocates You Need to Know About

In certain states, the legalization of marijuana may feel like an upward battle — but whatever you do, don’t stop pushing for positive change. It’s coming. It’s slowly but surely making its way across all 50 states, and it’s largely due to the growing number of marijuana advocates in the public space.

Musician Marijuana Advocates

It’s comforting to know that we’re not alone in this, as many politicians and pop culture icons are advocating for legal marijuana nationwide. Some of the advocates mentioned in this article may sound familiar (like Snoop Dogg, hello!) but others will be a real shock. 

Here’s a fun fact before we get started: marijuana advocacy has been going on a lot longer than you may have realized. It’s not all Miley Cyrus and Rihanna smoking marijuana on stage (although they do speak to millennials better than anyone). It’s deeper than that. These are the marijuana advocates it’d be a shame not to know about.

Next up is Bob Dylan, who pretty much proves the music industry is the biggest arena for marijuana advocacy. So many marijuana-smoking playlists from his time featured the song “Rainy Day Woman 12 & 35,” which includes countless references to getting stoned. The other big Bob in music is, of course, Bob Marley. It’s nearly impossible to find a poster or wall tapestry of his face without smoke coming out of his mouth or the marijuana leaf in the background. Also, he said this: “Herb is a plant. Herb is good for everything.” Damn straight.

We also have these fan-favorites in the music industry:

• Willie Nelson
• The Beatles
• Lil Wayne
• Jimi Hendrix
• Jerry Garcia

Tech Marijuana Campaigners

Before we reveal the next marijuana advocates, do you remember a time when people said cannabis makes you dumb? It may meddle with your short-term memory a little bit, but as adult smokers with fully developed mental faculties, cannabis has nothing to do with your actual brain cells. If cannabis truly makes you incompetent, no one told Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple. Steve admitted to occasional marijuana use and eating pot brownies.

Here’s another brainiac to prove that rumor wrong. Bill Gates. Some know him as an author, philanthropist, and humanitarian. We know him as one of the richest guys in the world for founding the Microsoft Corporation. Bill is so insanely smart that he made his first-ever sale, for $4,200, at the age of 17, according to Mic. So, yeah, if this guy is smoking marijuana, we should all be. Bill publicly backed the 2012 referendum to legalize marijuana in Washington, and we have this quote to back it up: “As for drugs – well, Gates was certainly not unusual there. Marijuana was the pharmaceutical of choice.”

Athletes for Marijuana

Now that we’ve covered the techies, what about the healthies? The sporty dudes? It’s an athlete’s job to stay in peak physical condition during the season. That means no alcohol, no hardcore drugs, and an extremely restricted diet. Proving that you can still win gold after using marijuana is Michael Phelps, who was caught taking a bong rip on-camera in 2009. It caused a huge scandal but who cares when you’re one of the top swimming Olympians?

Out of all the professional sports groups, the UFC is reportedly the most lenient when it comes to marijuana. You guessed it — we’re talking about Conor McGregor. You can catch him smoking up on his Instagram page and in marijuana cafes around Amsterdam. Marijuana is tested in competition now, meaning fighters should only worry if they’ve smoked in the past day or two. In fact, the use of CBD is now legal in the UFC.

Weed and Food Go Hand-in-Hand

OK, we know what you’re thinking — none of these are that surprising, are they? Hold tight because we’re just getting started. You know the ice cream conglomerate Ben & Jerry? The guys behind it, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, not only sold marijuana as a side-hustle growing up in New York, but they also included it in the Cherry Garcia flavor. They recently said they’d have no problem infusing marijuana into products where it’s legal.

Pop Culture Marijuana Advocates

This next cannabis advocate is less G-rated than the others. OK, we warned you. We’re talking about the late Hugh Hefner, the man responsible for Playboy and lots of boobs. Lots of boobs. Longtime playmate Holly Madison revealed in her tell-all autobiography, Down the Rabbit Hole: Curious Adventures and Cautionary Tales of a Former Playboy Bunny, that Hugh would often smoke cannabis before and after certain, um, physical activities. This guy was literally living the high life with women and cannabis all around.

That’s a pretty impressive list of marijuana advocates, and it’s growing every day. It’d be unthinkable to list every single celebrity or famous face who participates in marijuana advocacy, but we did leave off some big names worth mentioning as we wrap this up.

1. Brad Pitt
2. Cheech & Chong
3. Hunter S. Thompson
4. Bill Murray
5. George Washington

Marijuana advocacy taps into every profession and every demographic. The next time you’re feeling down about the marijuana laws in your city, look around to see all the warriors who are fighting for change — and making progress! Baby steps, remember? We hope this list brought you some comfort about the movement to legalize marijuana nationwide, and perhaps, all over the world as well. In the words of Stewie Griffin, “Everything is better with a bag of weed.”