by Dan Ketchum
With the rise of self-help culture getting a massive signal boost from influencers and online mental health gurus, more people than ever are seeking the answers to love, life, nature, creativity and productivity, not just in the self-help section of the bookstore, but from their Instagram and TikTok feeds.
But from Tony Robbins to Brené Brown to Steve Jobs or the “Who Moved My Cheese?” guy, we’d posit that these self-help gurus have nothing on the ancient wisdom of stoner quotes from society’s cannabis sages. Best of all? You don’t have to buy a book or follow anyone on TikTok to indulge in this free, leafy insight.
1. “The biggest killer on the planet is stress, and I still think the best medicine is and always has been cannabis.” — Willie Nelson
Willie puts it simply, but the science backs him up. Even as recently as 2020, a Vanderbilt University Medical Center study found that cannabis activates the same receptors as those the brain naturally uses to protect against stress.
2. “Hemp is the first necessity to the wealth and protection of the country.” — Thomas Jefferson
It’s the granddaddy of stoner quotes, the founding father if you will. There’s no better or more satisfying counterpoint to that particular type of cannabis naysayer who loves the constitution (but probably hasn’t read it) than to cite one of the guys who wrote it.
3. “The heightened sensitivity in all areas gives me a feeling of communion with my surroundings, both animate and inanimate.” — Carl Sagan
Prolific scientist and culture-changing thinker Carl Sagan was a lifelong cannabis enthusiast and an ardent proponent for legalization who believed that cannabis provided us with the “serenity and insight, sensitivity and fellowship so desperately needed in this increasingly mad and dangerous world.”
4. “The legalization of marijuana is not a dangerous experiment — the prohibition is the experiment, and it has failed dramatically, with millions of victims around the world.” — Sebastián Marincolo
Take it from a Ph.D. in philosophy and linguistics, educator, cannabis company DoC and four-time author (including the book “High: Insights on Marijuana,” the origin of this quote). He’s done the research for you.
5. “A heavenly dreaminess comes over one, in which they move as if on air. Everything is calm and lovely to them: no pain, no care, no fear of anything, and while it lasts, one feels like an angel half asleep.” — Louisa May Alcott
Based on this quote from Alcott’s “Perilous Play,” we’re willing to bet the iconic “Little Women” author would be a big fan of the triple-strain indica blend in Houdini.
6. “Marijuana was the main thing that promoted non-violence amongst the youth because as soon as they have it, first of all, you have to laugh at your first experiences. There’s nothing else to do but laugh, and then, when you’ve got over that you realize that people aren’t laughing at you, but with you, it’s a community thing, and nothing would ever stop it, nothing on earth is going to stop it, and the only thing to do is to find out how to use it for good, or for the best.” — John Lennon
A fan of elated highs, John puts it much better than we could when we’ve got the giggles and positions cannabis as a much more affordable and quieter alternative to laughter therapy.
7. “The more medicated, the more dedicated.” — Snoop Dogg
On the track “My Medicine” from his 2008 album “Ego Trippin’,” Snoop eloquently predicts the medical legalization of cannabis in 36 U.S. states (as of 2022).
8. “From a natural stiffness, I melted into a grinning tolerance. Walking on the streets became a high adventure, eating my mother’s huge dinners an opulent entertainment, and playing with my son was a side-cracking hilarity. For the first time, life amused me.” — Maya Angelou
When an iconic author, actress, screenwriter, dancer, poet and civil rights activist endorses it, there must be something to that whole cannabis-and-productivity thing (and that whole cannabis-and-creativity thing, too).
9. “I’m strongly atheist by disposition, but nonetheless, when this happened, I couldn’t help thinking, ‘That must be what the hand of God is like.’” — Oliver Sacks
Author, M.D. and neurologist Oliver Sacks beautifully describes the feeling of meeting that perfect euphoric high on its level.
10. “Good people don’t smoke marijuana.” — Jeff Sessions
Jeff Sessions removed protections for transgender children, encouraged police violence, fought against LGBTQ organizations, promoted the “Muslim Ban” and has a decades-long history of white supremacy, voter suppression and dismantling civil rights. You do not want to be anything close to what Jeff Sessions calls “good people.”
11. “Instead of taking five or six prescriptions, I decided to go the natural route and smoke marijuana.” — Melissa Etheridge
Melissa Etheridge would walk across the fire for cannabis, she’d drown in her desire for cannabis. But luckily for Melissa (and you) it’s not that hard to get a vape these days.
12. “When I was a kid, I inhaled frequently. That was the point.” — Barack Obama
The ultimate clapback to Bill Clinton’s infamous “I didn’t inhale” line, President Obama’s famous stoner quote actually did a lot to legitimize weed in the eyes of Americans as legalization took off under his administration.
13. “…the marijuana consciousness is one that, ever so gently, shifts the center of attention from habitual shallow, purely verbal guidelines and repetitive secondhand ideological interpretations of experience to more direct, slower, absorbing, occasionally microscopically minute engagement with sensing phenomena.” — Allen Ginsberg
In his thoughtful essay, “The Great Marijuana Hoax,” influential American beat poet Allen Ginsberg describes the sensation of being high in a way only he can…
14. “When you smoke the herb, it reveals you to yourself” — Bob Marley
…while Bob Marley articulates the same sensation just a little more succinctly. And speaking of cannabis love among revolutionary musicians, that other Bob has a little truism to add:
15. “I think everybody’s mind should be bent once in a while.” — Bob Dylan
Dan Ketchum is an LA-based freelance lifestyle, fashion, health and food writer with more than a decade of experience. He’s been fortunate enough to collaborate and publish with companies such as FOCL, Vitagenne, Livestrong, Reign Together, Out East Rosé, SFGate, The Seattle Times and more.
Sources
Goodreads — Marijuana Quotes
High Times — 25 Inspirational Quotes About Weed
Science Daily — Study Sheds Light on Link Between Cannabis, Anxiety and Stress
Honolulu Civil Beat — To Hear the Founding Fathers Tell It, Hemp Can Make America Great Again
Medium — Cannabis and Creativity: Scientist, Carl Sagan
Sebastián Marincolo — Marijuana Insights
Project Gutenberg Australia — Perilous Play by Louisa May Alcott
Genius — My Medicine, Snoop Dogg
Biography — Maya Angelou
Oliver Sacks, M.D. — Home
Lambda Legal — Every Terrible Thing Jeff Sessions and the DOJ Have Done Since February
The Atlantic — The Great Marijuana Hoax by Allen Ginsberg