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Sir Paul McCartney Gives Up Smoking Pot At Age 69

Paul Mccartney Smoking Pot

First Posted: 02/16/2012 10:11 am Updated: 02/16/2012 2:12 pm

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Sir Paul McCartney may have looked younger than ever during his Grammy performance Sunday, but the former Beatles member says he's finally giving up a large part of his youth: marijuana.

In a new interview with Rolling Stone magazine, McCartney reveals that Bob Dylan first introduced him to cannabis -- and that he also experimented with a host of others, including heroin, LSD and cocaine. He has unashamedly stuck with the weed-smoking habit since the 1960s, and was famously arrested in Japan in 1980 for possessing pot.

Now the 69-year-old music legend, who finally received his star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame on February 9, says it's time to give up this part of his life -- for his 8-year-old daughter Beatrice (from second wife Heather Mills).

“I smoked my share. When you’re bringing up a youngster, your sense of responsibility does kick in, if you’re lucky, at some point... Enough’s enough -- you just don’t seem to think it’s necessary," he said.

Check out photos from the 2012 Grammy Awards:

CORRECTION: A previous version of this article falsely suggested that marijuana was a "gateway drug" to other drug use. It has been updated to reflect the correction.
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Sir Paul McCartney may have looked younger than ever during his Grammy performance Sunday, but the former Beatles member says he's finally giving up a large part of his youth: marijuana. In a new ...
Sir Paul McCartney may have looked younger than ever during his Grammy performance Sunday, but the former Beatles member says he's finally giving up a large part of his youth: marijuana. In a new ...
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smilealot
7 Fans
07:12 PM on 02/22/2012
Wonder if he'll go back to smoking when they legalize it here in the U.S.
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hegarty111
28 Fans
04:18 PM on 02/18/2012
Stop smoking or stop breathing. Not a bad choice. Next Scott's anti-gray. Gotta age sometime.
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JohnThomas
83 Fans
12:33 AM on 02/19/2012
No. -- While smoked marijuana does contain some of the same toxins as cigarettes or any other kind of smoke, smoking marijuana does NOT cause cancer. For two main reasons. One, marijuana consumers inhale a tiny fraction of the smoke that cigarette smokers do. People standing on a busy street corner inhale more toxic smoke than the two or three puffs of marijuana. Second, researchers have found marijuana has anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory properties.

The preeminent researcher of marijuana and lung disease, UCLA's Dr. Donald Tashkin, conducted investigations over 30 years, initially believing there must be a causal relationship. But he finally concluded that smoking marijuana does NOT cause cancer or ANY other serious disease.

Additionally, even the minor lung irritation that heavy consumption can cause can be easily avoided by eating, drinking or vaporizing marijuana. No smoke - no harm - at all.
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dayanatuna
19 Fans
 
08:51 PM on 02/17/2012
Good job sir!
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
rosiebag
Big, Bold, Brassy
335 Fans
12:52 PM on 02/17/2012
Role model
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leburg
17 Fans
09:25 PM on 02/17/2012
Yes he is...I'll quit at 69!
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Tingalor
The Dude...takin 'er easy for all us sinners.
108 Fans
12:17 PM on 02/17/2012
Noooooooooooooooooooooo! There goes any shred of creativity that was left in the man!
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suebeedue
82 Fans
04:30 PM on 02/17/2012
Are you kidding? Don't be delusional!
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eastfernstreet
Too micro to be seen . . .
266 Fans
 
11:38 AM on 02/17/2012
Good thing he's not poor, black and American . . . he'd be in prison. When are we going to do the smart thing and legalize, regulate and tax pot?
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justobserve
Not left nor right or center. Just a free thinker!
267 Fans
02:29 PM on 02/17/2012
Your first sentence is correct!
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JohnThomas
83 Fans
02:38 PM on 02/17/2012
So is the second, of course.
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jools6009
41 Fans
11:35 AM on 02/17/2012
That clinches it. Now, I know the world will end in 2012.
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TarzanaGirl
120 Fans
 
04:34 AM on 02/17/2012
I was fortunate to meet both Paul and Linda back in '89 when they were in L.A. for concerts at The L.A. Forum. My friends and I were extras - along with many others - for a VISA card commercial. Paul and Linda were in a limo that was driven back and forth in front of all of us, as they stuck their arms out the windows and shook hands with as many as they could. Then they hopped out of the limo and walked back and forth, continuing to shake hands with everyone. Both were very nice and very friendly to everyone. I was even able to sneak an autograph from Paul, even though we weren't supposed to do that - lol. Congratulations on your STAR Paul!!!
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wrwjr57
27 Fans
08:53 AM on 02/17/2012
Fortunate?, it doesn't take much to please you.
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TaxTheChurch
235 Fans
04:38 PM on 02/17/2012
Go grind a jig.
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TarzanaGirl
120 Fans
 
11:49 PM on 02/17/2012
Who "peed" on your cheerios???
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maggiee
168 Fans
05:13 PM on 02/17/2012
/\
super jealous!
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tom sproule
Wish in one hand and Mitt in the other
204 Fans
03:38 AM on 02/17/2012
He's taken up smoking 1000-pound notes,instead..
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HollisHoHo
85 Fans
 
03:35 AM on 02/17/2012
Paul was stoned out of his mind when he gave this interview.
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booch55
51 Fans
01:40 AM on 02/17/2012
gee, I wonder how Stella and her siblings reacted to that silly comment. hahaha don't believe him for a second, that rascal!
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hotradiodj
13 Fans
01:13 AM on 02/17/2012
this is the biggest lie i read this year.
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MichaelRCooke
A cartoonist and webmaster.
232 Fans
 
12:22 AM on 02/17/2012
I've given up smoking pot because I'm poor and pot is expensive. Had I a child, I'd make damn sure that child never knew I smoked pot and that no one else knows either, which Paul McCartney seems to agree with.

Then again, I never picked up a tobacco habit because someone introduced me to pot as a child first and for that reason tobacco seemed pointless in comparison and I never developed that habit.
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Aine
@Aine on Twitter
233 Fans
 
12:29 AM on 02/17/2012
Hiding it from your child will simply be seen as you being dishonest and a hypocrite. I'd much rather just be open and honest about it, and use the opportunity to educate my child without any of the hyperbolic propaganda (in fact, I educated 2 sons in this way). Both have tried cannabis, as they would have anyway, but neither one is a regular user of cannabis.
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MichaelRCooke
A cartoonist and webmaster.
232 Fans
 
12:50 AM on 02/17/2012
I'd hide it because a child is not prepared to keep the fact secret, and as the pot smoking parent I could have that child taken from me legally.
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suebeedue
82 Fans
09:47 AM on 02/17/2012
Yes Micheal, I also do not agree with you. I would tell my children anything that would help them at the appropriate time. If the info would not help them, I have no need to tell them, but I also make it clear to them that I am not perfect, so that they have a realistic view of things.
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MichaelRCooke
A cartoonist and webmaster.
232 Fans
 
11:34 AM on 02/17/2012
I feel it's like sex, it's okay for a child to know you smoke pot the way it's okay for a child to know you have sex with a husband or wife. But you don't want you child to SEE YOU have sex!

Similarly, it's not okay to be stoned at the job, and if you're a parent, YOU ARE ALWAYS ON THE JOB.

So you misunderstand, when I say I will not let my child know I smoke pot I mean that literally, not abstractly. Abstractly I will tell anyone, especially my child, that tobacco is dangerous and if you mean to smoke anything, marijuana is not physically addicting or linked to cancer.
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jokamachi
Dog on roof? Check. Scissors? Check.
5752 Fans
12:18 AM on 02/17/2012
Sounds like the new wife doesn't dig his Beatlesque lifestyle.
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Gordon Meyer
29 Fans
10:44 PM on 02/16/2012
Who is he?
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allproinstall
15 Fans
08:47 AM on 02/17/2012
I think he invented music or something.
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