Susan Sarandon’s Lifelong Marijuana Use

Throughout her expansive career,  Susan Sarandon has earned a reputation for pushing the boundaries of female narratives on  screen.    In  a  career spanning almost fifty years, Sarandon has played a nun, an outlaw, a prostitute, and even a witch among dozens of other roles.  From her first film credit  in 1970 as a wealthy, Upper-East-Side teen who becomes involved with drug-dealing hippies in  Joe, to her seismic role as  Louise Sawyer in  cult classic  Thelma and Louise,  Sarandon has always been a risk-taker.

This devil-may-care attitude  extends into her strident social and political activism.  Never one to shy away from a  cause,  Sarandon hasn’t cared whether her  views  have  made her unpopular  in the film industry. At the  1993 Academy Awards, she and  Tim Robbins used their stage time to draw attention to the detention of HIV positive Haitian refugees at Guantanamo Bay.  She was also an outspoken advocate for Bernie Sanders during the 2016 presidential  election, running  into controversy over statements she made about his democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton.    

With such a history of unequivocal opinions, it’s no wonder then  that Sarandon has been equally outspoken about her lifelong use of marijuana. Sarandon first spoke out about her use of marijuana several years  ago  and  has since been a vocal  advocate for legalization. In  an interview with Andy Cohen, Sarandon revealed that she’s smoked before  almost  every  movie  awards  show she’s attended (apart from the Oscars). Given that she’s been nominated for nine  Golden Globes, seven Emmy’s, and four Screen  Actor’s  Guild awards to name a few, that adds up to a lot of time spent stoned on the red carpet.    

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How She Uses Marijuana      

As a  successful  actress,  producer, and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador,  Sarandon sees herself as a different kind of advocate for marijuana use  –  and not someone  that traditionally fits into the  stereotype  of what a cannabis user looks like. Since first discovering the drug at college in the late  60’s, Sarandon  is a prime example of how cannabis use can work as one small facet in leading a healthy, productive lifestyle.

She has likened marijuana use to yoga and  meditation  and  has spoken out about how it has helped her creativity and mindfulness.  She  has stated that while she will read and review scripts while high  to see different points of view on a character,  she  often  takes a break from marijuana when she’s working or filming.  Sarandon’s one rule for smoking is “don’t be stoned if you have to pretend you’re not”, and so she also took a break from marijuana while her children were younger since she found it hard to find time to herself.    

Supporting Legalization  

Sarandon has spoken publicly  of the hypocrisy around the criminalization of weed versus the socially acceptable use of alcohol. As a mother of three, Sarandon has said  that she would rather her kids smoked marijuana instead of drinking.  While she doesn’t think that consistent marijuana  use  from a very young age is a good idea, she has stated that if more people used marijuana instead of alcohol “the world would be in a better place”.

She believes that marijuana is over  politicized  in comparison to legal substances such as alcohol, which can cause much more damage to your body.  As a vocal advocate for  legalization, Sarandon has called out  the unfair incarceration of people of color for marijuana related offences as a waste of  taxpayer’s  money,  and  has proposed that  legalizing marijuana would provide a much welcome boost to the economy.    

Stars such as Andy Cohen and Kathy Bates  have shared stories about smoking with Susan Sarandon with Bates admitting that she had some “good  sh*t”.  Sarandon herself has also  opened up  about her love affair with the late David  Bowie, admitting  that they used to smoke together.    

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