International Cannabis Business Conference

What Is Gary Johnson?

Gary Johnson keeps making high-profile mistakes as he stumbles from blown media opportunity to the next.

I'm wondering why Libertarian Party presidential candidate Gary Johnson keeps forgetting things. Is it because he smokes pot? Or because he's stopped smoking pot?

The former governor of New Mexico has now suffered three brutal gaffes. The latest one, when he couldn't name a foreign leader he respects during a sit-down with Chris Matthews on MSNBC last night, struck me that Johnson's memory is simply not functioning well.

Most marijuana smokers will admit that marijuana messes with the memory. Johnson has said that he has used marijuana medicinally (it's unclear if he's a recreational smoker). But as he geared up for the presidential race, Johnson let it be known that he would do it sober, which since he's not a drinker, meant no pot.

"I've stopped using marijuana of any kind," he acknowledged in June.

So then he's either abstaining and it's affected his memory in a reverse way, or he's actually using on the side and forgetting things when it matters most during TV interviews.

"What is Aleppo?" has become a campaign joke and now Johnson is taking hits from all sides, like this one I heard today from CNN's Jake Tapper:

'Gary Johnson is doing more harm to the cause of marijuana legalization than any Cheech & Chong movie.'

Bill Maher blasted Johnson a day later on Real Time:

'Gary Johnson is a fucking idiot! I like him, he's a nice guy, but he's another in my basket of of fucking idiots... We all thought he was a cool guy. He smokes pot, he was for pot. He's not making pot look too good. Pot is cool. But you know what's also cool? Reading!'

A friend of the cannabis cause and someone I've met and interviewed in the past, I like Gary Johnson. But he appears to be over his head in this most important of races. I doubt he'll do it, but I think Johnson should drop out and let his VP William Weld take over for him.

Then he can go smoke a joint.


Steve Bloom

Steve Bloom
