# Could the serving POTUS smoke a joint and get away with it? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 22, 2016, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-serving-potus-smoke-a-joint-and-get-away-with-it/769404 "2016-10-22T22:29:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MrLee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f8ce5/32.png) [@MrLee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrLee)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2016, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-serving-potus-smoke-a-joint-and-get-away-with-it/769404/1 "2016-10-22T22:29:10Z")
Asked out of pure idle curiosity… Let’s say Obama (or Trump, or Clinton #2…) fancied lighting up a doobie… Would there be any way for him/her to do so without being caught out by the Secret Service/Journalists/White House staff/whoever? Is there any moment in a POTUS’ life when they are enough removed from people that they could smoke a joint and get away with it? I would guess that whenever they are in the White House they are surrounded by enough people that it would be rendered impossible… But what about Camp David? Or any other occasion when the POTUS is left enough alone that they could conceivably roll a blunt and listen to some Grateful Dead while playing air guitar? Just wonderin’ - thanks in advance ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Gay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3ab097/32.png) [@Enola\_Gay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Gay)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2016, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-serving-potus-smoke-a-joint-and-get-away-with-it/769404/2 "2016-10-22T22:32:27Z")
Too lazy to look up a cite, but Al & Tipper used to smoke out when Al was VP. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2016, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-serving-potus-smoke-a-joint-and-get-away-with-it/769404/3 "2016-10-22T22:36:15Z")
…Any White House restroom? But where would he acquire the weed? ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Gay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3ab097/32.png) [@Enola\_Gay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Gay)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2016, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-serving-potus-smoke-a-joint-and-get-away-with-it/769404/4 "2016-10-22T22:37:09Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > But where would he acquire the weed? Al Gore? ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2016, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-serving-potus-smoke-a-joint-and-get-away-with-it/769404/5 "2016-10-22T23:12:55Z")
Do you think a Secret Service Agent is stationed inside the President’s bedroom? ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2016, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-serving-potus-smoke-a-joint-and-get-away-with-it/769404/6 "2016-10-22T23:20:44Z")
Isn’t pot legal in Washington, D.C.? I know, it’s illegal on the federal level, but the president’s not breaking any district statutes if he were to partake within the White House. And the residential quarters are strictly private if he wanted to go upstairs and smoke in his bedroom. And it’s not up to the Secret Service to police the president, anyway. Of course, he wouldn’t want to light up in front of the press, but otherwise, what the president does within the privacy of his own quarters is nobody’s business but his own, anyway. As to where he gets the pot, I’m sure there is any number of people who would be willing to go to a dispensary and pick up an ounce for him incognito. ---
**Author:** ![Goalie8401](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f05b48/32.png) [@Goalie8401](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Goalie8401)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2016, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-serving-potus-smoke-a-joint-and-get-away-with-it/769404/7 "2016-10-22T23:21:14Z")
The President does have private quarters and a private office. I’m guessing it wouldn’t be that hard. Heck, he could just eat an edible if he really wanted to do it on the low. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2016, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-serving-potus-smoke-a-joint-and-get-away-with-it/769404/8 "2016-10-22T23:25:07Z")
Plenty of people who aren’t even the most powerful person in the world manage to do it. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2016, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-serving-potus-smoke-a-joint-and-get-away-with-it/769404/9 "2016-10-22T23:26:19Z")
If the Old Fogeys of either or both parties learned of it–impeachment. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2016, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-serving-potus-smoke-a-joint-and-get-away-with-it/769404/10 "2016-10-22T23:28:42Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > If the Old Fogeys of either or both parties learned of it–impeachment. That’s one of the most absurd things I’ve ever read. That isn’t anywhere close to impeachable and anyone proposing it would be ridiculed. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2016, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-serving-potus-smoke-a-joint-and-get-away-with-it/769404/11 "2016-10-22T23:32:48Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > That’s one of the most absurd things I’ve ever read. That isn’t anywhere close to impeachable and anyone proposing it would be ridiculed. He would be breaking a federal law. How is that not impeachable? ---
**Author:** ![Ignotus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ecc23a/32.png) [@Ignotus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignotus)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2016, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-serving-potus-smoke-a-joint-and-get-away-with-it/769404/12 "2016-10-22T23:37:57Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Plenty of people who aren’t even the most powerful person in the world manage to do it. True. But neither are we the most closely watched person in the world. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2016, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-serving-potus-smoke-a-joint-and-get-away-with-it/769404/13 "2016-10-22T23:43:50Z")
seems a former president got away with extra fun with a young girl (not his wife) for a while before people found out about it. And that was in the white house too. (And yes I know that was not breaking any laws) ---
**Author:** ![igor\_frankensteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/839c29/32.png) [@igor\_frankensteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/igor_frankensteen)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2016, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-serving-potus-smoke-a-joint-and-get-away-with-it/769404/14 "2016-10-22T23:46:00Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > He would be breaking a federal law. How is that not impeachable? Look up the definition of “high crimes and misdemeanors” for clarity. That phrase does NOT correspond to “breaking any law.” ---
**Author:** ![Common\_Tater](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/common_tater/32/13846_2.png) [@Common\_Tater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Common_Tater)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2016, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-serving-potus-smoke-a-joint-and-get-away-with-it/769404/15 "2016-10-22T23:54:13Z")
Didn’t Willie Nelson smoke on the WH roof or something during the Carter regime? Casual drug use is probably not on anyones radar. They are concerned with the presidents safety, not stupid stuff like that. It is stupid, but. I’m sure there have been some pretty killer parties over the years and the secret service is going to look the other way. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2016, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-serving-potus-smoke-a-joint-and-get-away-with-it/769404/16 "2016-10-23T00:01:52Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > He would be breaking a federal law. How is that not impeachable? I guess that technically they could impeach for whatever they hell they want but breaking a Federal law in and of itself isn’t considered impeachable. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2016, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-serving-potus-smoke-a-joint-and-get-away-with-it/769404/17 "2016-10-23T00:18:06Z")
> [@igor\_frankensteen](#): > > Look up the definition of “high crimes and misdemeanors” for clarity. That phrase does NOT correspond to “breaking any law.” He would be getting high, though. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2016, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-serving-potus-smoke-a-joint-and-get-away-with-it/769404/18 "2016-10-23T00:25:23Z")
The definition of “high crimes and misdemeanors” is “whatever Congress decides to impeach the President for”. But they’d have a hard time finding out. Yes, there are people watching over the President, but they’re not there to stop him from toking up. ---
**Author:** ![Vicsage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/e68b1a/32.png) [@Vicsage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vicsage)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2016, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-serving-potus-smoke-a-joint-and-get-away-with-it/769404/19 "2016-10-23T00:32:27Z")
Secret service doesn’t care what laws their “client?” breaks, they’re there to protect them from others. They didn’t stop Obama’s daughter from smoking a joint at a public concert, I don’t think they’d stop the president. ---
**Author:** ![harmonicamoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/65b543/32.png) [@harmonicamoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmonicamoon)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2016, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-serving-potus-smoke-a-joint-and-get-away-with-it/769404/20 "2016-10-23T00:40:36Z")
I don’t think there is Secret Service when the POTUS is playing hide the salami. Plus he could always say that he didn’t inhale. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-serving-potus-smoke-a-joint-and-get-away-with-it/769404.md?page=2)