Lady Gaga Smokes Marijuana on Stage

Not first time pop singer has admitted to smoking pot, but first time she's done so in public

U.S. pop singer Lady Gaga asked a crowd in Amsterdam on Tuesday night if anyone had any marijuana. After a nameless member of the audience obliged, she held a joint aloft, placed it in her mouth and happily puffed away. "Does anyone have any weed?" Gaga asked after a frenzied song and dance number. "No, no..." she said, rifling through objects tossed on stage. The she exclaimed: "Ah, thank you," apparently finding what she was looking for. Holding a large joint into the air Gaga asked: "Holland, is it real? Don't tease me now. We just want to make sure if it's real." Then she smelled it. "Oh, it's real," Gaga said before taking several large puffs and throwing it back into the audience. "And for those of you who are wondering if I'm high right now, I'm not," she said with a laugh. "That is not nearly enough to get me high." Gaga reportedly added that the drug "has totally changed my life," helped her cut down on drinking alcohol and enhanced her "spiritual experience" when creating music. It's not the first time the pop singer has admitted to smoking marijuana, but it is the first time she's done so in public. Gaga, however, is no stranger to political controversy: she's repeatedly said she's in favor of equal rights for LGBT people, headlined a 2010 rally against anti-gay dicrimination in the military, and was one of the first celebrities to publicly thank President Barack Obama earlier this year for coming out in favor of marriage equality. Though marijuana is decriminalized in Holland, it is strictly forbidden in Gaga's native United States, where 858,408 people were arrested for marijuana related offenses in 2009. Obama's most recent budget allots $25.6 billion for anti-drug programs in 2013 alone. The Gallup polling firm found earlier this year that 50 percent of Americans favor legalizing marijuana and regulating it similar to alcohol, compared to 46 percent who prefer the current prohibition. President Obama says he's opposed to legalization. SOURCE: www.rawstory.com AUTHOR: Stephen C. Webster