College sometimes seems like one of the only magical places on earth where you can do whatever you want, even if it’s illegal, and totally get away with it. It’s a sad thought since we only get four fabulous years in college wonderland before we graduate and have to adhere to the real world’s standards (and laws), but fear not, there is actually another magical place like college: Hollywood. I finally connected the dots this past 4/20 when numerous celebrities openly admitted to smoking weed and celebrating the infamous 4/20 holiday. Is it okay for Hollywood to be an adult version of college, though? Should celebrities be so open about breaking the law and smoking weed? There are two sides to this story. Let’s explore them.
First, celebs advocating for weed could be a good thing. The people of Hollywood have enormous pull and influence over the lives of others as we’ve seen demonstrated in politics with Oprah’s backing of Obama and the widespread annual “Rock the Vote” Campaign. Celebrities can make us do a lot of things for very few reasons. This means, in the battle to legalize marijuana, which could medically help millions of people, celebrities openly smoking weed could be a good thing. If the people we love to watch and read about don’t think it’s bad, it must not be bad, right? Justin Timberlake, Whoopi Goldberg, Rihanna, Miley Cyrus, Michael Phelps and Lady Gaga have all admitted to or been seen smoking weed and they’re still wildly successful and influential people. In the argument against weed, it’s hard to ignore that some of the most beautiful and successful people around are supporters of it.
On the other hand, the influence some celebrities have over others can be a bad thing. Younger celebs with even younger fans have to be extra careful about the image they put out for others. Some celebrities, whether they like it or not, are expected to be role models for the younger community, and this means not openly smoking weed. Take Justin Bieber for example. When a photo of the then 18 year-old Biebs smoking what appeared to be a blunt surfaced, his teenybopper fans went nuts. Within hours the hashtag “#cutforbieber” was trending worldwide on Twitter as his fans actually did cut themselves or at least threatened to do so if the superstar didn’t quit his bad habit. We all know Beliebers can take anything too far but they are a prime example of how important it is for certain celebrities to be role models. Justin Timberlake smoking weed is cool, Justin Bieber smoking weed is detrimental to girls everywhere.
There’s no clear answer to the celebrities openly smoking weed dilemma. The issue definitely depends on the celebrity. An older, successful celeb can have a major positive influence over the battle to legalize weed and can help people see that maybe marijuana isn’t so bad after all. A young celeb with impressionable fans however needs to keep their smoking habits to themselves or they’ll end up creating a new league of 12 year-old potheads.