Five Scientists Who Smoked Weed and Made a Difference

Science and mind-expanding substances go hand-in-hand. And cannabis is leading the herd.

It shouldn’t come as a shock that there are scientists who smoked weed. Plus only a select few in high society can smoke and accomplish scientific work. But these experts have smoked cannabis and made a difference for it. So, here are five scientists who have smoked weed.

Five Scientists Who Smoked Weed

Oliver Sacks

Sacks first time trying marijuana induced fascinating perceptual distortion. He was looking at his hand, and it appeared to be retreating from him, yet getting larger and larger. via NPR

Neurologist Oliver Sacks is no stranger to the benefits of using marijuana. As a cancer patient, he used medical marijuana for personal use. In addition, Sacks’ book Hallucinations explores the range of human perceptions or hallucinations both drug-induced and not. However, his interest began during a little smoke sesh in the 1960s. Though his primary focus was brain injuries and illness, he will be remembered most for his touching narratives about medical trauma.

Stephen Jay Gould

Named a “Living Legend” by the U.S. Library of Congress in 2000, Stephen Ray Gould was a paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and historian of science. via Zenpype

Evolutionary biologist and paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould is not only a scientist but a cannabis pot advocate. He was recognized for his work on punctuated equilibrium or evolution that occurs in short bursts over over long periods. However, his passion was for medical marijuana. Sadly, he passed from abdominal cancer at age 40 and medicated with the herb all throughout his career.

Lester Grinspoon

Of all the scientists who smoke weed, Lester Grinspoon showed was the most committed to the plant. As a psychiatry professor at Harvard, Grinspoon released his book Marihuana Reconsidered in 1971. His work concluded that marijuana was not harmful but helpful to people who use it especially medicinally. However, Grinspoon passed on puffing on the pipe until two years after publishing.

William Brooke O’Shaughnessy

O’Shaughnessy presented his research to a number of mostly British scholars at the Medical and Physical Society of Calcutta in 1839. via CannaViri

One scientific OG started mixing his science with cannabis early in his career. In the 19th century, William Brooke O’Shaughnessy performed the analysis of the blood and feces of cholera victims. In addition, his work led to intravenous replacement therapy.  O’Shaughnessy marijuana trafficking introduced cannabis as a medicine to Europe and therefore to the western world.