Bob Marley

Bob Marley was born in St. Ann Parish, Jamaica during 1945. He grew up in a town called Nine Miles; his family and friends would pass the time trading stories like fables and proverbs. Bob’s early childhood is filled with deep cultural roots which is a tribute to his later years of songwriting. Other early childhood attributes to his fame was the Jamaican music called ska.

Ska is a combination of Caribbean mento, calypso, American Jazz, rhythm and blues. His parents did not approve of his career choice and found him a job as a welder. Bob attempted to appease his parents and took the job, but after a welding accident (a tiny steel splinter went into Bob’s eye) he quit his job and pursued his music career.

Bob Marley is a Jamaican reggae singer, songwriter, and guitarist who achieved international fame and acclaim. His music focused on current events like war, political oppression and poverty; along with spreading the message of love, herb and peace. His Rastafarian heritage has always been close to his heart and is a great influence to his music career.

Rastafarians use marijuana not only for recreational purposes, but also for its medicinal and spiritual uses; and during a time of harsh political oppression against marijuana smoking weed religiously and singing about it was a big slap in the face to mainstream society. His music inspired thousands of people to look at marijuana in a different light, where herb is not the cause of violence but a spiritual peaceful solution to violence and spoke out about unfair government oppression against its people.

Bob Marley died from a heart-attack at the age of 37 in Miami Florida during 1981. Bob Marley predicted that he would die a pauper because he saw how his music was affecting society. He told his producer after earning a measly return on his music that he would become famous but would never live to see it. His music and name will live on through the ages.

Wiz Kalifa

Cameron Jibril Thomaz was born in Minot, North Dakota late in the summer of 1987. His early childhood consisted of lots of traveling due to his parents both being active service members of the military. Cameron was able to see much of the world due to his parent’s occupation with Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom being the biggest ones.

Once Cameron started working with other rappers in Pittsburg Pennsylvania, he took a stage name. The name Wiz Kalifa is a homage to Cameron’s Muslim grandfather who would call him Kalifa as a child and his own desire to be a successful artist that speaks powerful truths. Wiz is short for wisdom in English and Kalifa is Arabic for successor.

Wiz has been one of the most outspoken proponents of legalization in the music and acting scene. With the help of pot icon Snoop Dogg, Wiz starred in Mach and Devon go to High School and The Culture High. He has also launched his own strain of cannabis. He partnered with Colorado-based RiverRock Cannabis and Raw Rolling Papers in addition to releasing cannabis themed music.

It is no stretch to say that Wiz Kalifa is positioned to take advantage of the newly legalized recreational market. With his current entertainment empire, Wiz has the capital, the eyeballs and the will to make Kalifa a household name for cannabis consumers.

Willie Nelson

Marijuana’s state-by-state march toward full legalization would not be happening without Willie Nelson. He’s now 82, and he’s spent nearly half his life as America’s most famous stoner. But this fall he’ll be making the leap from aficionado to entrepreneur. As time passes, the world offers up new questions, and so sometimes new answers are required. Once he reached the age when people began asking about retirement, Nelson would reply that he doesn’t do anything but play music and golf: “I wouldn’t know what to quit.” And now that one of America’s stoner icons is going into the pot business and planning to launch his own proprietary brand called Willie’s Reserve, this bought-a-lot-of-pot-in-my-life line is already on instant replay and you can confidently expect to hear Nelson use it for the next few years, anytime the subject is raised in his vicinity.

As one of the best known stoners, Willie is legendarily calm and collected. When Willie was asked about how he deals with anger these days he responded “I still get pissed off, and take a couple of hits and say, ‘Well, it ain’t that bad.…’ Delete and fast-forward: That’s my new motto.”

Snoop Dogg

If anyone is a poster child of American cannabis it’s Snoop Dogg. Born in Long Beach California as Cordozar Broadus Jr. in 1971, Snoop Dogg gained fame for his rap skills in 1992 in Dr. Dre’s album The Chronic. In the years since his own debut solo Doggystyle came out in 1993 under Death Row Records, Snoop has sold over 35 million albums worldwide.

Besides his vocal chops, Snoop has made appearances in movies like Half-Baked, starred in The Wash and was inducted into the WWE Celebrity Hall of Fame in 2016. All this while being an open and avid cannabis user. This mogul is not content to just smoke dank herb though.

Leafs by Snoop is a premium cannabis production company with products like Watermelon Drop (Dog Treats), Northern Lights (Flower), and Lemon Pie (Shatter) just to name a few. Besides starting a cannabis growing and refining company, Snoop has also made a vape pen that is sold ubiquitously. As recreational cannabis continues to move forward, if his track record so far holds true, Snoop Dogg will stay at the forefront of the movement for years to come.

Steven Tyler

Born as Steven Victor Tallarico, this legendary rocker was supposedly inspired as a child by experiences with musicians like meeting Mick Jagger. He later changed his name to Steven Tyler and helped form one of the most iconic bands in rock and roll history. Along with some friends from the North East United States, they moved to a tiny apartment in Boston and got to work making history.

Known the world over as the lead singer of Aerosmith, Steven Tyler is no stranger to cannabis. He was arrested in 1967 for possession of cannabis and later told Rolling Stone that he’d “’been getting high since I was sixteen.’ During his most creative years he was known to do many drugs including acid, cocaine and cannabis. According to him he ‘used to smoke pot and listen to the Beatles, trying to decipher their lyrics.’

By 1975 Tyler had his first top 40 hit with Sweet Emotion which he followed up with Dream on and Walk This Way in 1976. After the police raided a concert in Fort Wayne during 1978, Tyler offered to pay the bail of anyone who had been nabbed. 28 people took him up on the offer and showed that the rocker was as good as his word. Tyler has maintained his carefree attitude towards cannabis and has been vocal about supporting cannabis decriminalization.

The Beatles

Due to a misunderstanding of some lyrics, The Beatles were introduced to cannabis by Bob Dylan who rolled joints for hours after Ringo Star smoked the first one by himself. In an interview, Paul McCartney said "Till then we'd been hard scotch and Coke men," but the experience was just the first.

By 1973, Paul was growing cannabis when he was fined and gave a defense of not knowing what they would be. During the writing and recording of the Rubber Soul album, Ringo Star said “Grass was really influential in a lot of our changes, especially with the writers. And because they were writing different material, we were playing differently. We were expanding in all areas of our lives, opening up to a lot of different attitudes.”

Justin Timberlake

In 2011 Timberlake told Playboy that he loved smoking pot because it gets him to put the brakes on his mental motor. He also admitted in an interview with Playboy that he thinks some people are just better high.

"The only thing pot does for me is it gets me to stop thinking," the Bad Teacher star explains. "Sometimes I have a brain that needs to be turned off. Some people are just better high."

High or not, Timberlake says he's ready to slow down and chill. "I feel I'm just getting to a point in my life where I'm looking around, going, There's a lot to enjoy if I can just sit still, actually stop and take more time."

Rihanna

Take one look at Rianna’s social media accounts and you’ll know the lady loves her bowl — so much so that she allegedly wanted to cut back. While overindulgence is an issue that many people believe will plague our society when recreational marijuana is legalized across the board, Rhianna shows that even people who consume at a ‘high’ level are still able to work and produce in civil society. Granted, the songstress has had her fair share of trouble with authorities, she is no more outlandish than any other celebrity that has maintained the spotlight for any length of time.

Rihanna does have something of a Cannabis fix on her Instagram though.

The sexy singer has posted a plethora of pics of her toking it up which has helped several unsubstantiated rumors about her starting a line of designer bud called Marihanna. While there are no official plans for her to release the cannabis line, it hasn’t stopped the rumor from maintaining a powerful hold on the imagination of internet users the world over.

Miley Cyrus

It’s no secret that Cyrus is a big fan of weed, so much so that she lit up on stage at the European Music Awards in 2013. An organization that ran anti-cigarette smoking ads during the Video Music Awards has complained to MTV's parent company about the program's multiple references to marijuana and said it sent the wrong message to young viewers.

Show host Miley Cyrus was responsible for most of them. She even came backstage with a lit joint after the show and passed it around to photographers in the press room. She even sold $65 packs of edible gold rolling papers at her Bangerz tour. The message sent by celebrities about marijuana on the VMAs is every bit as persuasive as the show's commercials, said Tim Winter, president of the Parents Television Council. Plenty of successful people smoke pot, and have the financial cushion to handle it if things go wrong, said Kevin Sabet, head of the anti-drug group Smart Approaches to Marijuana.