Microsoft founder Bill Gates says that while he wouldn’t recommend it, he experimented with LSD a half-dozen times and was partial to marijuana in his youth—in part because he felt it could help him impress girls.
In his latest memoir, the multi-billionaire talked about his early experiences with drugs. Source CodeNext week, the publication of.
That included a time during high school—on senior “skip day” when students ceremonially ditch classes—when Gates took acid and recalled that he continued to feel the effects the following day at a dental appointment.
He said to PEOPLE, that he was blaming his late Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen for his experiments. Gates said, “Everything that I do I blame on Jimi Hendrix and him.”
Paul was always a fan of tackling things. [not] drinking. Gates admitted that he had given him a lot of whiskey which he said smelt bad because i had drunk so much on the first night. “I like to take risks and try out new things. I also enjoy my mind functioning well. And so both during those trips and even after, you wonder, ‘Hey, did I scramble up my mind?'”
After I stopped, we all did. [LSD] Four or five total times. “I think I last did it when I was about 21,” said he. “I would not recommend that, because although you may think your ideas are deep, when you look back, they really aren’t.”
Also, Gates commented on the past use of cannabis. He felt that smoking marijuana was “a way to try to look cool.” Gates stated that he believed “maybe some girl would be amazed.”
“It didn’t work out—but I tried,” he said.
Gates isn’t shy when it comes to his marijuana use in the past.
In 2023, he said during a conversation with actor Seth Rogen that it’s “amazing” how marijuana policy and culture have evolved since his high school days smoking cannabis to fit in with his peers—and he thinks the ongoing federal-state marijuana law conflict has “got to be resolved.”
Gates explained that the motivation for smoking pot was not so much to smoke pot just because it’s cool, but rather being a part of the group. It’s incredible how much it has changed. “When I grew, it was a kind of rebellion thing.
Gates noted that many of those who had smoked cannabis when it wasn’t legal were using a very modest dosage.
He said: “At least, as you enter this world of legal marijuana, you could be getting really high doses. Particularly on edibles.” “I mean, I think I know, ‘okay, if I puff five times’ what that means, whereas if you ingest I have no clue.”
A survey shows that NHL players are choosing marijuana and video games over alcohol and partying. Two-thirds of them have been using edibles this season.
Mike Latimer is the photographer.