2013 Top 50 Most Influential Marijuana Users

Thank you for checking out MPP's second annual "Top 50 Most Influential Marijuana Users" list! There has been quite a bit of variation since last year, including several additions and a number of people dropping in rank or off the list entirely.

In order to have qualified for the list, each individual must (1) have tried marijuana at least once, (2) be alive, and (3) be living in the U.S. or be a U.S. citizen. To create the list, we adopted the criteria used by Out Magazine to select their “Power 50” list of LGBT Americans. That means our choices are based on “power to influence cultural and social attitudes, political clout, individual wealth, and a person’s media profile” – not just on popularity or support for marijuana policy reform. Fortunately, many of them have expressed support, but there are some “bad guys” on there, too.

In sum, we're not concerned with an individual's popularity, or even whether he or she supports marijuana policy reform. Rather, the 2013 "Top 50 Most Influential Marijuana Users" list is meant to identify people who have used marijuana and achieved high levels of success or influence.

Bill Gates

“As for drugs – well, Gates was certainly not unusual there. Marijuana was the pharmaceutical of choice…”

(Source: Gates: How Microsoft's Mogul Reinvented an Industry--and Made Himself the Richest Man in America)

President George W. Bush

"I wouldn't answer the marijuana questions. You know why? Because I don't want some little kid doing what I tried."

(Source: New York Times)

Andrew Cuomo

"I did experiment with marijuana when I was a youth."

(Source: New York Daily News)

Rand Paul

"According to this woman, who requested anonymity because of her current job as a clinical psychologist, "He and Randy came to my house, they knocked on my door, and then they blindfolded me, tied me up, and put me in their car. They took me to their apartment and tried to force me to take bong hits. They'd been smoking pot."

(Source: GQ Magazine)

Sanjay Gupta

"I have tried it."

(Source: CNN)

LeBron James

“James also revealed he and his teammates smoked marijuana one night after getting access to a hotel room in Akron.”

(Source: ESPN)

Rush Limbaugh

"I wouldn’t have been able to make it through hundreds of shows if it weren’t for the benefits of medical marijuana"

(Source: The Internet Chronicle)