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President elect Michael D Higgins smoked weed at Indiana University

Opinion poll topper admits to paper that he inhaled

CATHAL DERVAN,

IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Published Thursday, October 13, 2011, 8:17 AM

Updated Thursday, October 13, 2011, 10:34 AM

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Michael D Higgins

Irish Presidential election favorite Michael D Higgins has admitted that he smoked dope – and he did inhale.

The Labor Party candidate has confessed to smoking marijuana when he was a student at Indiana University in the 60s.

The Galway academic has confirmed to the Irish Independent newspaper that he smoked a joint when he moved from his local university to America.

He also told the paper that he had never taken drugs in any other form and completely rejected the common theory at the time that drugs could be used to ‘expand consciousnesses.

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“I saw people try LSD but I would have been terrified because of those I saw become dependent on drugs,” Higgins told the Irish Independent.

The Labor Party’s big hope to win the Presidential election, Higgins has also confirmed that he was a member of Fianna Fail during his time at University College Galway.

He was even elected chairman of the Kevin Barry branch of the party on the day he joined the party in the spring of 1966.

Higgins insisted in an interview with the paper that he left Fianna Fail a few months later when he went to study in Indiana and said he was not involved in any electioneering or fundraising for the party during the time he spent in the university cumann (branch).

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abhainn | Nov 13, 2011, 03:52 PM EST

Voters in Ireland and elsewhere pay no attention whatsoever to the fact that politicians smoked cannabis in their youth. In the presidential election, Michael D. Higgins won the highest vote ever received by any Irish politician. His cannabis smoking 45 years ago did not feature in Irish voters' decisions. It was also known that Clinton, Bush Junior, and Obama smoked. No-one cares. David Cameron, the British prime minister, smoked; he was elected anyway. So, who does care? Newspaper editors looking for a meaningless headline that citizens don't pay any attention to.

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gobdawpaddy | Oct 14, 2011, 09:00 AM EDT

'President elect' Higgins ?? WicklowPeter, 'Maybe the Kenny regime has rigged the vote', that was the risk with the previous crowd, which is why the EUR50 million voting machines were disgarded, FF couldn't be trusted. Higgins pot use might be an explanation for his stinted growth, not his mind however.

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WicklowPeter | Oct 14, 2011, 08:39 AM EDT

President elect Michael D Higgins ??? Don't the voters of Ireland have any say ? As far as I know we do not vote until October 27th ? Maybe the Kenny regime has rigged the vote......

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Wingeire1 | Oct 14, 2011, 05:06 AM EDT

OK, but who didn't smoke pot back then? The media needs to get over that...we have two generations of pot smokers coming up.

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cillowen | Oct 13, 2011, 10:07 PM EDT

the elf with suprizes aplenty. prez elf of erin.

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GeorgeDillon | Oct 13, 2011, 02:36 PM EDT

Far more relevant is this man's support for unlimited migration into Ireland of people from the four corners of the world, and the fact that he was caught in a lie during the plebiscite on citizenship some years ago. This guy claimed that children from Nigeria would be left stateless if the vote was passed. An utter lie, as it turned out, but one that was unchallenged in the gutless Irish media. That is until the Nigerian Embassy in Dublin said no such thing could happen---children born in Ireland of Nigerian parents were Nigerian citizens. Thankfully, Higgins' crude lie got little credence in Ireland, as his side lost that vote four to one. It's not surprising that the Irish media are giving him a free run right now--the Irish media are the laziest and most venal in the world.

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Springfield9 | Oct 13, 2011, 01:54 PM EDT

OMG!!!!!!!!!! I was only 50 years ago!

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citizen69 | Oct 13, 2011, 12:01 PM EDT

Hmmm, what's worse? Higgins smoking weed in his past?... or McGuinness ordering punishment shootings/beatings, robberies, protection rackets, murders & intimidation in his past? That's a difficult one.

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clevelander | Oct 13, 2011, 10:09 AM EDT

President elect Michael D Higgins? Did I miss something?

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Towngate | Oct 13, 2011, 08:57 AM EDT

STOP PRESS! ELECTION SHOCK! > > Michael D. Higgins tipped over his potty when he was being toilet trained; it was revealed today. Another report alleges he once threw a toy out of his pram and then spat out his dummy! (soother, pacifier). Political observers of the Race for the Aras, say he will be greatly undermined by these scandalous revelations!

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