Ten opinion leaders who support marijuana legalization

10. Mario Vargas Llosa

The Peruvian Nobel Prize defended in an article in the Spanish newspaper El País the two liberal reforms carried out by Uruguay in 2013: legalizing the production, sale and consumption of cannabis, and gay marriage. In reference to the first one, he remarked that "freedom has its risks and those who believe in it must be willing to take them in all domains, not only in the cultural, religious and political ones. This is how the Uruguayan government understood it and it should be praised for it. Hopefully others will learn the lesson and follow suit". 

9. Richard Branson

What would you think of one of the richest people in the world, with more than 100 companies in charge, if you knew that he smokes or has smoked marijuana with his 21 year old son? Sir Richard Branson, the owner of the Virgin empire, not only occasionally smokes cannabis but he actively defends the decriminalization of drugs. His enthusiasm has led this British tycoon to present alternative policies in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom and in international conventions.

8. Rick Steves

When I grow up I want to be like Rick Steves. This man is quite famous in America for his European tour guides. His television show Rick Steve's Europehas taken him to the most beautiful places in our continent. Nevertheless, he has not neglected his political facet. He is currently a member of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. According to him, ganjahas opened his mind and allowed him to be a better travel writer.

7. George Soros

The Hungarian-born American tycoon, one of the largest fortunes in the world, has donated a certain amount of money through his Open Society foundation to launch a propaganda campaign in favour of legalizing marijuana in Uruguay. Likewise, Soros strongly supported the referendum held in California in 2010 with a donation of $ 1 million. Some digital media speculate about his commercial interests in relation to Monsanto and the production of transgenic seeds. However, he argues that decriminalizing cannabis would solve a lot of collateral drug-related problems in society.

6. José Mújica

The current president of Uruguay has been the architect of the regulation of the production, sale and consumption of cannabis in his country. Although he does consider marijuana a negative drug, Mujica argues that "Marijuana is not the problem. The problem is to steal the market from the drug trafficking industry as the best way to combat it. A different thing is what really happens. We find a shipment, and another, and another, we win many battles but they win the war. I do not know if what we propose can help to solve the problem, what I am very sure about is that a hundred years chasing drug addiction have not worked."

5. Arnold Schwarzenegger

Governator already opened the door to the regulatory debate in 2009 during his time as governor of California hosting a referendum to legalize it, which did not succeed by just few votes. Terminator even said in an interview for GQ that "marijuana is not a drug but a leaf, and that the only addiction he has ever had was lifting weight.

4. Sting

The famous singer has always been in favour of drug decriminalization and in support of activist associations such as the Drug Policy Alliance. In 2010 hecommented in his blog that the war on drugs had failed and that it is used as a pretext to lock people in jail for offenses that do not harm anyone.

3. Stephen King

"Marijuana should not only be legal, but it should be a local and cottage industry", the acclaimed suspense novelist said on one occasion. Some other times, he has clarified that he no longer smokes marijuana because he is afraid of the additives it is mixed with, as an outcome of drug trafficking.

2. Bill Gates

Microsoft founder and billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates voted for the legalization of marijuana in the last referendum held in the state of Washington, where he currently lives. Gates said it is a good initiative to end drug trafficking and address the drug problem from another perspective.

1. Barack Obama

Obama used to smoke pot in his youth, according to a book about his life. The president confirmed this in a recent interview in the New Yorker. Furthermore, he stated that he does not consider marijuana to be more harmful than alcohol or tobacco. A public nod to the growing public support of this plant in his country.