It would be easy to name a bunch of rappers and claim that cannabis is great for success, but due to the nature of that industry and smoking weed being part of the culture/lifestyle it doesn’t make sense to do so.

On this list we’d like to highlight those who you’d probabaly not expect to smoke weed. We’d also like to include some people who have achieved top level success such as a billionaire CEO of a global company.

Bill Gates – Microsoft founder Bill Gates managed to become the world richest man whilst smoking weed. Even in the early days Bill and the founding parters would smoke cannabis, eat pizza and code.

George Zimmer – The Men’s Warehouse entrepreneur has a $150m net worth and publicly admits his cannabis use.

Ted Turner – The man who founded CNN, ironically a network that has spoken negatively about cannabis in the past is an avid user. Yet he’s still managed to become a multi-billionaire.

Joe Rogan – The millionaire podcast host and presenter smokes daily, yet has the world’s largest podcast and is worth roughly $25m. In fact on one episode Joe Rogan and billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk smoke together.

Nate Diaz – UFC fighter Nate Diaz and his brother are well-known users. If there was any doubt about it making you lazy, UFC fighters who have had lengthy careers whilst using surely is proof against that stigma?

Read 12 benefits of working out high

Steve Jobs – One of the most famous entrepreneurs in human history, perhaps the most famous. Steve founded Apple a company that today has moulded the way we live. It’s likely that much of his creativity and revolutionary thought process came from smoking cannabis. Steve was also a hippie in his youth.

Richard Branson – Perhaps the most eccentric billionaire in the world, Richard Branson has had success in every possible industry, turns out he also smokes cannabis.

Dan Bilzerian – The social media, poker playing playboy has built a $150m net worth living exactly how society advised us not to live. He also owns his very own cannabis company.

Sergey Brin – Co-founder of Google, a company that couldn’t be much more successful, Sergey is worth nearly $52b.

Jay-Z – One of the most successful artists in history never mind rap/hip-hop. Jay-Z is open about his use of marijuana and has a net worth of 1b with a relentless work ethic.

Michael Bloomberg – CEO of Bloomberg, the largest financial media company in the world, Michael’s personal fortune has reached up to $62b in his best years.

Hugh Hefner – Playboy and the Playboy Mansion, need we say more?

Carl Sagan – American astronomer, cosmologist, astrophysicist, astrobiologist, author, science populariser, and science communicator in astronomy and other natural sciences. Smoking certainly didn’t impact his mental capacity.

Abraham Lincoln – 16th President of the United States and perhaps most famous President Abraham Lincoln reportedly smoked weed as it was less frowned upon back then.

Michael Phelps – The most successful Olympian of all time, swimmer Michael Phelps would use almost daily to recover quicker.

Ben & Jerry – Both Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield the co-founders of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream smoked cannabis.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar – Famous basketball player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was able to become the highest scoring NBA player of all time whilst smoking cannabis.

What to avoid

It’s not all perfect however there are still rules that successful people follow when it comes to smoking weed.

Rule 1: Avoid skunk – Skunk can cause Psychosis and can be dangerous.

Rule 2: Smoke after the work is done – It’s no seceret that weed makes you more mellow, for some people they become more relaxed and don’t feel like doing much. Get your work done first, smoke in the evening and wake up in the morning without the hangover alcohol would give you. It’s the perfect system.

Rule 3: Smoke before any creative thinking: Smoking before trying to come up with great ideas will ground you, focus your thoughts and enable you to achieve improved mental clarity. The likes of Steve Jobs, The Beatles and Carl Sagan have done this and revolutionised the world we live in via all three respected industries.

Follow these rules and you can pretty much smoke as much as you want, there’s no set amount that is either good or bad for you. Smoking weed certainly does not hold you back from success. Enjoy it and make as much money as you can so that you’ll have more free time to keep smoking.