When you think of jazz legend Louis Armstrong, images of him playing his trumpet most likely come to mind.
His trumpet helped him carve out his place in history as a jazz legend, it was his love of weed that made him a legend in the cannabis community.
Before Cheech & Chong was “Up In Smoke,” before Snoop Dogg would come through and make smoking look cool, Louis Armstrong was the champion for cannabis.
Something he picked in the ’20s while playing a gig in New Orleans, Armstong would spend most of his life proudly smoking and speaking about his use and love of the plant.
Back when weed and weed users were called “vipers.” Louis was king of the vipers.
In his book “Satchmo: My Life in New Orleans” he speaks about his life as a viper.
“That was our cute little nickname for marijuana…We always looked at pot as a sort of medicine, a cheap drunk and with much better thoughts than one that’s full of liquor.”
His frequent use of cannabis during a time when tolerance for the plant was extremely low, especially amongst law enforcement, Louis would spend many nights behind bars. Most notable, his time in Los Angeles at The Cotton Club.
His drummer Vic Berton tells the story for the book:
While the officers did give him some preferential treatment during his arrest, he would end up serving 9 days in jail over the incident.
This wouldn’t be his first time Louis or his family would deal with the law over his love of cannabis.
His wife, Lucille, would find herself in handcuffs while the two were in Hawaii.
Federal narcotics agents at a hotel in Hawaii in 1954 found her with one cannabis cigarette and two half-smoked stubs hidden in her eyeglass case. The amount totaled to 14 grams. The stash was thought to be Louis’ in actuality.
Her arrest prompted him to write a letter to his manager, Joe Glasser asks for permission to smoke his medicine.
“Mr. Glaser, you must see to it that I have special permission to smoke all the reefers that I want to when I want or I will just have to put this horn down, that’s all.”
Until his death, Louis would be an active voice for cannabis and cannabis use.
“As we always used to say, gage is more of a medicine than a dope. But with all the riggamaroo going on, no one can do anything about it. After all, the vipers during my heydays are way up there in age – too old to suffer those drastic penalties. So we had to put it down. But if we all get as old as Methuselah our memories will always be lots of beauty and warmth from gage.”
Louis Armstong, jazz legend, cannabis advocate and the king of the vipers.
Source: Leafly