Elvis and marijuana

He was the king of rock & roll, but what about Elvis and marijuana?

He changed music and had a huge impact on the industry. He captured the emotions of a generation, paving the way for the Beatles, Queen, Sting, Taylor Swift and Drake. He still holds the record for the most Top 40 hits with a total of 114 and has sold over a billion records worldwide. Elvis' music has more than 30 million monthly Spotify listeners. In December, his music climbed to number 1 on the Rock Streaming Songs charts with his favorite track “Blue Christmas”.

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But what about Elvis and marijuana? The musician has had a difficult past with drugs, but what about his relationship with cannabis? He grew up in Tupelo, Mississippi with a religious background. In this life he won three Grammy Awards, all for gospel music. His death in 1977 shocked the world. At the time, he was bloated, sad, and overusing drugs… but was there marijuana involved?

Elvis was part of mainstream culture, but he began the transition from a strict to a more open mindset. His hip swing was the first step on the path to sexual freedom and a stronger love for everyday life. But for Elvis it came at a price. He quickly became an icon, struggling with fame, touring and the fact that his image didn't always match what he perceived as his true self.

He definitely experimented with illegal drugs. Elvis and his then-wife Priscilla tried LSD together and spent quite a while giggling and looking at Elvis' aquarium. But they didn't like the aftereffects and didn't try again. In Alana Nash's book, he used marijuana for medicinal purposes after his eye problems and probably smoked it at other times as well. Priscilla shared that he occasionally ate edibles.

But his true love was legal prescription pills. When he joined the Army, he was already addicted to amphetamines and later opioids and barbiturates were added to help him sleep and come down from the amphetamines.

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Presley embodied sexual liberation through his music and dance. He also brought traditionally black music into the mainstream, which became a common thread in the civil rights movement. Despite his conservative upbringing, he eventually paved the way for modern thinking. Although he did not advocate marijuana, he changed his way of thinking, which also led to a change in the way the public, especially the younger group, thought about cannabis.