Count Bill Nye among the increasing number from the scientific community who support legalizing marijuana and want to study its medical benefits. Though, it’s worth mentioning, when it comes to the Science Guy himself, don’t expect him to consume any cannabis with him.
He isn’t a weed guy, personally.
“What’s happened with marijuana is it’s a Schedule I drug, which means it’s presumed to be addictive and it’s presumed to have no medical value. Yet people are using it for all these medical applications,” Nye told NowThis in an interview published this week. “So well, let’s study it. Well, you’re not allowed to study it because it’s a Schedule I drug […] So that has to be sorted out.”
Nye also sees the inherent economic value marijuana can have and supports it. He previously saw the positive benefits cannabis legalization can have to an economy and community when he used to live in Washington state.
“I lived in Washington State for a long time, and Washington State legalized it in 2012. We legalized marijuana, we tax it,” Bill Nye said. “We have a lot of tax revenue. It’s no longer criminalized. We don’t spend money on the police department. We spend money regulating the industry in the same way we regulate other substances.”
As you see, Nye understands the legitimacy of marijuana. But again don’t expect to see him any smoke shops anytime soon.
“I don’t like the smell. I just don’t like it,” he said. “One time in college I tried it, and I’m not good at smoking. I didn’t put in the hours to get good at smoking.”
“When I played ultimate frisbee very seriously, these guys I would play with would get high and they sucked when they were high,” he also added.
Bill Nye’s cannabis views align with his late mentor Carl Sagan, whom he studied astrology under while attending Cornell University. Another Sagan protégé, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, also came out recently in favor of marijuana legalization saying, “I think if you really analyze it, […] there is no reason for it to have ever been made illegal.”
