Historical Figures Who May Have Used Marijuana

Nowadays, for the most part, it's no longer taboo for a celebrity or famous person to admit to using marijuana. America in particular has come a long way since the now laughable "Reefer Madness" era of the 1930s, when its use was comically demonized through sensationalized propaganda films. Not only is its medicinal value well documented within the medical community, but many places have now fully legalized its adult recreational use. While obviously not everyone is on board with the current liberalization of marijuana and cannabis laws, overall, the public seems to be trending in that direction.

As you might expect, the use of marijuana among celebrities and important historical figures is far from a new phenomenon. While today, some of the biggest rock stars and Hollywood icons admit to using marijuana, in years prior, there were also many literary giants, great physicians, philosophers, and revolutionaries who partook of the herb. In addition, there may even be evidence of its use amongst some of the most powerful people in the history of the world, including famous kings and even Egyptian pharaohs.

While definitive proof is pretty hard to come by for many historical figures associated with marijuana, their mention or even fascination with it in their studies or work can offer some clues. Going back thousands of years, these are some of the historical figures you probably wouldn't have guessed may have been using marijuana.

Among literaries and poets, few have the esteem and prestige of Englishman William Shakespeare. Even today, more than 400 years after his death, academics and fans alike still hail him as potentially the greatest playwright of all time. Yet, when people talk about Shakespeare, his potential connection with cannabis is not a commonly raised topic.

To be fair, there wasn't really any evidence that he had used marijuana, outside of his colorful imagination, until early in 2001. It was first then that researchers first published evidence in the South African Journal of Science that indicated he may have been a potential pot smoker back in the day. The researchers tested 24 different pipes found at various locations where Shakespeare lived, and they showed some surprising results. According to their research, ⅓ of the pipes they tested had residue indicative of potential combustion involving the cannabis plant. In addition to marijuana, researchers also found potential evidence of both myristic acid and cocaine, as well as tobacco.

To be clear, no proof directly attaches Shakespeare to the pipes through DNA or fingerprinting. However, pipes that showed possible cannabis smoking were found in several different locations , indicating it may have been done at least one of his residences. We'll probably never know if it was Shakespeare himself blazing up, but it's an intriguing thought.

Known as one of the most famous (or infamous) figures of the Mexican Revolution, Pancho Villa (above right) led a very interesting life. Born in 1878, Villa joined the revolution in 1910 and began fighting against the corrupt and powerful Mexican government, led by Porfirio Diaz. By 1914, he was already a fugitive, but he had an army 5,000 strong with him by his side. Following the Second Battle at Torreon in March, where they defeated the Mexican government, Villa's exploits with marijuana were lionized in a song by the name of "La Cucaracha."

The chorus of "La Cucaracha" is translated as "The cockroach, the cockroach, Can no longer walk; Because he hasn't, because he hasn't, Marijuana to smoke" (via High Times). Villa is the cockroach, but not in a negative way, needing marijuana so he can fight while under the influence, which was supposedly something he and his army did with frightening regularity. In addition to Spaniards and Mexicans, there were also many Yanqui Natives who were a part of Villa's army, too. Many of the Yanquis are said to have smoked marijuana before going into battle, using its psychoactive properties to make them formidable and dangerous.

Villa's other troops may have also smoked too, in addition to drinking psychedelic whiskey and mezcal. It's somewhat terrifying to think of a THC-backed army running wild, but luckily, Villa hasn't roamed the border towns of northern Mexico and southern Texas for over a century.

Widely known as the author of "The Count of Monte Cristo" and "The Three Musketeers," Alexandre Dumas, père, was also quite the marijuana connoisseur back in his heyday. The French author lived from 1802–1870, was a prominent force in the French Romantic literary movement, and is the father of Alexandre Dumas, fils, who would go on to have his own successful career as a writer.

As it turns out, from 1844–1849, Dumas, pere, was part of the mysterious French Club des Hachichins, or the "Hashish Club." Dumas was far from alone, as other great French writers of the day, like Victor Hugo, Charles Baudelaire, and Theophile Gautier, also joined him as part of the group. They smoked in a place known as the Hotel Lauzun or Pimodan House, which was located on the left bank of the Seine River and had gothic features like gargoyles. While at the house, they would dress in Arab garb and drink coffee infused with hashish they called dawamesk.

The leader of the group, Dr. Jacques-Joseph Moreau, had been smoking hash since the 1830s, when he visited the Middle East, and brought the drug back home with him to France. Though Dumas never wrote about his personal experiences with hashish, his book "The Count of Monte Cristo" seems to mention the use of dawamesk during the scene with Sinbad the Sailor, and he published it just as he entered the hash club, coincidentally or not. 

While he may not be the most popular person among school-aged children, the seventh-century Neo-Assyrian King Ashurbanipal was a very important historical figure. Ashurbanipal was the head of one of the biggest empires in history, and at the time was the most dominant figure in all of the Middle East. He was known for many things, including a penchant for hunting lions, but one of the coolest was creating the first real library in Western history. 

Hunting lions might sound a bit edgier to modern minds than opening a library, but you haven't heard what was in the library. The library housed some of the oldest scripts in the world on cuneiform tablets, including the "Flood" tablet, which has part of the "Epic of Gilgamesh," and several tablets that discussed medical science. As it turns out, some of those medical tablets referenced cannabis. 

The library was destroyed shortly after the king's death, so the tablets were likely there during his reign and lifetime. The tablets point to both medical and otherworldly uses of cannabis, making one wonder just how strong the cannabis was they were working with. We know that Ashurbanipal was a man of luxury, so he may very well have been trying the latest and greatest in the ways of medicines and magical potions.

Of all the uses of medical cannabis that are recognized by doctors today, it's pretty unlikely you'll find many who recommend it to help ease symptoms of passing gas. Yet, if you had been alive during the ninth to 10th centuries, and were living near Rayy in what was then called Persia, you may have had access to the famous physician Al-Razi. In which case, you would have been in perfect luck. 

Al-Razi is reported to have been a fan of cannabis even back then, and used it for multiple different illnesses. These included helping with flatulence and epilepsy, as well as for dandruff and earaches. Interestingly, Al-Razi also suggested that when taking cannabis seeds or hashish orally, that it was important to drink fresh water and eat acidic fruits to avoid having a bad reaction. During his time, Al-Razi was the chief physician at the hospital in Rayy. 

He was also an alchemist, and his medical knowledge was potentially influenced by earlier Greek physicians like Claudius Galen and Pedanius Dioscorides, who had also experimented with medical cannabis centuries prior. Al-Razi was not just a practitioner of medicine, but he was also an intellectual who studied other cultures' forms of medicine, like Greek and Syrian. And throughout his extensive studies, Al-Razi continually recommended marijuana.

When Theophile Gautier and Dr. Jacques-Joseph Moreau created the Club des Hachichins, or "Hashish Club," in the 1840s, they invited many leading literaries of the day. In addition to the influential Alexandre Dumas, Gautier and Moreau also brought along Charles Baudelaire, another very famous French poet. Ironically, even though Baudelaire may have written most prominently about the use of hashish and was known to occasionally indulge, he was not a frequent user.

Baudelaire was a member of the hash club as an observer rather than a user of hashish, but was known to have tried it at least a few times, and he may have previously used it frequently when he contracted an STD as a young law student. However, by middle age, he reportedly found hashish to be socially isolating and negatively compared it to wine, which he had a higher affinity for. Nonetheless, Baudelaire wrote the book "Les Paradis Artificiels" or "Artificial Paradise," which contained the notable section "The Poem of Hashish."

In the poem, Baudelaire describes how some people feel under the influence — both the negatives and positives — and he also gives a brief history of hashish, as well as its uses by various historical cultures throughout the world. Even though he may not have been a heavy user of cannabis, Baudelaire provided some valuable and interesting insight into its use during the 19th century.

Oscar Wilde was a 19th century poet and novelist originally from Ireland. A highly educated man who went to several prestigious colleges in the United Kingdom, his poems were very well received within the Aestheticism movement that was burgeoning by the late 1800s. He even toured both the United States and Canada due to his success, though not everyone was a fan of his work and idiosyncratic dress. Tragically, Wilde would later be imprisoned due to his homosexuality, which also occurred around the time that he was known to use hashish.

According to a letter (via "The Complete Letters of Oscar Wilde") Wilde sent his friend Robert Ross from the Hotel de l'Europe in Algiers, in late January 1895, Wilde and his companion Lord Alfred "Bosie" Douglas (pictured above together) were engaged in copious hashish smoking while on vacation. He went on about how much he enjoyed smoking, writing: "quite exquisite: three puffs of smoke and then peace and love. Bosie ... cries like a child for the best haschish [sic]." They seemed to have been buying the hashish from Kabylia locals, and apparently had better luck finding it than they did a tour guide.

Pablo Picasso is widely regarded as one of the most influential painters and artists of the 20th century, and he was also a brief user of hashish in the early 1900s. Picasso was born in Malaga, Spain, in 1881, and by the 1890s, he was already making a name for himself as a painting prodigy in Madrid. At the turn of the century, Picasso made his way to Paris, which was followed by his Blue, Rose, and Analytical Cubism periods. It was during the latter that he is said to have used hashish.

In Patrick O'Brian's "Picasso: A Biography," he claims that Picasso would ingest hashish pills with several friends, though it was largely experimentation on Picasso's part. Unfortunately for Picasso, it seems as though his experience with the hashish pills was overall negative, and he did not want to keep using them. In addition, he found that one of his friends had died by suicide, potentially as a result of mixing the hashish pills and other drugs together, which really turned him off to the idea of further use.

Following his brief flirtation with cannabis, Picasso went on to have his most successful period, including his major contributions to the Surrealist movement and sculpting industry.

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org