Revisiting Stephen King’s 1981 High Times Interview

In the early 1980s, Stephen King – already anointed as the nation’s master of macabre – sat down with High Times for an interview.

The original interview covers a lot of ground, from sex to politics, to his writing career.

King also gave some very candid thoughts about cannabis – still quite taboo at the time, even though Maine had decriminalized. He revealed what he liked about weed, and why he pretty much stopped smoking it.

“I think it should be a cottage industry.”

When asked whether or not he approved of cannabis decriminalization in Maine, King came out as a staunch advocate.

“I do approve of that. I think that marijuana should not only be legal, I think it should be a cottage industry,” he said.

“It would be wonderful for the state of Maine. There’s some pretty good homegrown dope. I’m sure it would be even better if you could grow it with fertilizers and have greenhouses.”

King went on to lament Maine’s weak economy, dependent on lobsters and potatoes, and filled with poor people.

“My wife says, and I agree with her, that what would be really great for Maine would be to legalize dope completely and set up dope stores the way that there are state-run liquor stores,” King noted.

“You could get your Acapulco gold or your whatever it happened to be — your Augusta gold or your Bangor gold. And people would come from all the other states to buy it, and there could be a state tax on it. Then everybody in Maine could have a Cadillac.”

King Reveals His Weed Smoking Habits

During the interview, King admitted that he had all but stopped smoking weed. But why?

“I’m afraid of additives, which come from decontrol and deregulation. Anybody can squirt anything into it that they want to. And that scares me. I don’t like the idea,” he said.

“My idea of what dope is supposed to be is to just get mellow. And what I do, if I smoke it anymore, is when I’m driving to the movies, to smoke a couple real quick so I can sit there in the first row. It’s kind of interesting and they have all that good munchie food, too, you don’t have to make yourself.”

Of course, King is the only one. Plenty of authors have disclosed their appreciation for cannabis.

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