The "
audacity of dope"? In his memoir
Dreams From My Father, Barack Obama admits having smoked marijuana during high school, but newly released excerpts from David Maraniss' upcoming biography
Barack Obama: The Story paint a picture of a truly committed pothead.The "giggle-worthy" details — many attributed to Obama's high school buddies collectively known as "the Choom Gang," after the slang term for smoking marijuana — are "right out of a buddy stoner flick,"
says Adam Sorensen at TIME. Here, the most scandalous allegations:
1. The Choom Gang
While in high school at the Punahou School in Honolulu, Obama began associating with a group of boys who "loved basketball and good times,"
says Maraniss. The group — "decent students and athletes who went on to become successful and productive lawyers, writers, and businessmen" — dubbed itself the Choom Gang. A favorite hangout was a lush hideaway called Pumping Stations, where they parked their cars, turned up Blue Oyster Cult on their stereos, "lit up some 'sweet-sticky Hawaiian buds,' and washed it down with 'green bottle beer.'" Once stoned, Maraniss alleges, the gang was often seen slipping past the "keep out" signs at the gorgeous Manoa Stream and standing under a rock where water rushed overhead.
2. Bud was everywhere
It's worth noting that "Hawaii of the early 1970s was something of a pot-smoking Mecca,"
says Jonathan Karl at ABC News. "It was sold and smoked right there in front of your nose," writes Maraniss. Among the choice local strains: Maui Wowie, Kauai Electric, Puna Bud, and Kona Gold.
3. Smoke and study
All the smoking didn't affect the president's studies. According to Maraniss, he told the Choom Gang that the key to performing well on tests after lighting up was to put the textbook under your pillow the night before an exam. "No way, dude!"
says Karl.
4. His trend-setting techniques
Obama was apparently known for starting pot-smoking trends within the group. He coined the term "total absorption," or TA. Basically, anyone who exhaled smoke prematurely would be assessed a penalty, and skipped the next time the joint was passed around. His other innovation was the "roof hit," in which the Choom Gang would roll up the windows of a car and smoke inside. Once all the weed was gone, they would tilt their heads back and suck in the remaining smoke from the car ceiling.