Marijuana and psychedelics have inspired many of the modern world's greatest minds

Stephen Jay Gould

Renowned scientist and Harvard Professor Stephen Jay Gould died in May 2002, of lung cancer. Gould was the author of many books on science and evolution, including The Mismeasure of Man, and his massive 1400-page opus The Structure of Evolutionary Theory, published shortly after his death. While many obituaries marked Gould's passing, few mentioned that Gould had been using marijuana since at least 1982. That was the year Gould was diagnosed with a rare and incurable cancer called abdominal mesothelioma, and told he had eight months to live.

Gould survived and thrived for 20 years after receiving that grim diagnosis, with treatments including surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. Yet above and beyond these, Gould claimed that it was pot that saved his life. "The most important effect upon my eventual cure," said Gould, "was the illegal drug, marijuana."

Gould testified to the benefits of medical marijuana in August 1998, at the trial of Ontario med-pot patient and activist Jim Wakeford (CC#15, Jim Wakeford - Canada's Best Hope for Medical Marijuana?). He told the court how "absolutely nothing" worked to treat his severe nausea, except for marijuana, which "worked like a charm."

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