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'The Choom Gang': 9 juiciest details from Barack Obama's days as a pothead (2012)
The WEEK ^ | May 25, 2012 | Kevin Fallon

Posted on 08/30/2016 7:04:16 AM PDT by Red Badger

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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.

5. Interception "Barry had a knack for interceptions," Maraniss alleges. When a joint was being passed around, he would routinely barge in, shout "Intercepted!" and take an out-of-turn hit. If so, Obama was a "a bit of a drag," says Jon Swaine at the U.K.'s Telegraph.

6. The Choomwagon The Choom Gang's preferred mode of transportation was a Volkswagen bus affectionately known as the "Choomwagon." According to one anecdote, the Choomwagon and a Toyota in which Obama was riding raced to the top of Mount Tantalus, and the Toyota rolled off the road. The Choomwagon's passengers found the future president staggering on the road and "laughing so hard he could barely stand up."

7. The pizza-delivery-man hippie drug dealer Every pot-smoking gang needs a supplier, and for the Choom Gang, that was Ray the Dealer. Ray was a long-haired hippie who worked at a pizza parlor and lived in a broken-down bus in an abandoned warehouse. In Maraniss' book, one of Obama's friends describes Ray as "freaking scary," yet able to "score quality weed." (Ray was eventually killed with a ball-peen hammer by a scorned gay lover.) In his senior yearbook, Obama expressed his gratitude: "Thanks Tut, Gramps, Choom Gang, and Ray for all the good times."

8. Debaucherous dorm antics While Obama was attending Occidental College in Los Angeles, a freshman drank too much and threw up all over a couch in the future president's dorm hall. "In the manner of pallbearers hoisting a coffin," Obama and his dormmates carried the couch outside — drunk freshman asleep on it — to dry. According to Maraniss, Obama's dorm also sponsored what were called the Annex Olympics; events included wrestling in underwear, lighting farts on fire, and smoking pot from a three-foot crimson bong.

9. The potential political fallout Obama has since disavowed this kind of behavior, says Sorensen, so it's not likely to factor politically. And voters already knew about his drug use when they elected him in 2008, says Swaine. Sure, on their own, these stories are "actually kind of funny, even humanizing," says Andrew Kirell at Mediaite. But they become less humorous when you realize they're about the President, who routinely dismisses serious discussion of drug policy. Shouldn't he "offer every American the right to 'choom'… instead of continuing to lock up marijuana users for hitting three-foot bongs like he did?"


TOPICS: Books/Literature; Education; History; Society
KEYWORDS: choom; marijuana; obama; pot

1 posted on 08/30/2016 7:04:16 AM PDT by Red Badger
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To: Red Badger

Is this photoshopped? I don’t mean the idiot and the bong. I mean that picture of Idi Amin DaDa, Emperor-for-Life in the upper left corner.


2 posted on 08/30/2016 7:09:12 AM PDT by Gaffer
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To: Red Badger

I don’t want to hear about this dope anymore


3 posted on 08/30/2016 7:09:30 AM PDT by Donglalinger
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To: Red Badger
The group — "decent students and athletes who went on to become successful and productive lawyers, writers, and businessmen"

So, even in the Choom Gang, Obama was the affirmative action loser...

4 posted on 08/30/2016 7:11:42 AM PDT by IYAS9YAS (An' Tommy ain't a bloomin' fool - you bet that Tommy sees! - Kipling)
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To: Gaffer

I blew it up and couldn’t tell. Could be PS..................


5 posted on 08/30/2016 7:12:26 AM PDT by Red Badger (Make America AMERICA again!.........................)
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To: Red Badger

That’s a picture of the DaDa....I’ll assure you.


6 posted on 08/30/2016 7:13:03 AM PDT by Gaffer
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To: Red Badger

7 posted on 08/30/2016 7:16:05 AM PDT by Fresh Wind (Hey now baby, get into my big black car, I just want to show you what my politics are.)
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To: Donglalinger

Apparently the apple has not fallen too far from the tree as his daughter makes no effort to hide her smoking “policy” either. Pot heads for certain, arrogant ones to boot.


8 posted on 08/30/2016 7:16:28 AM PDT by DaveA37 (t)
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To: Red Badger

9 posted on 08/30/2016 7:17:33 AM PDT by Gaffer
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To: Red Badger

My first thought:

1. WHAAAT? Obama was a white guy in high school!?!?

My second thought:

2. David Moraniss wrote all this while sharing bong hits with Obama. Believe it or not, this is still a FLATTERING portrait of the guy.

We already know he made $ turning gay tricks with older white men. We know he was being sexually abused by “Pop,” his “black person” mentor, Frank Marshall Davis. We know he was obnoxious even to his friends. We know he was already using his “borrowed” social security number to work after school at Baskin Robbins. We know he did coke and eventually crack cocaine including in (at least) state elected office. We know he wasn’t interested in girls at all.

Tell the whole story. Not just the funny immature antics.


10 posted on 08/30/2016 7:21:32 AM PDT by Yaelle (Liberals, you're not tolerant unless you are comfortable with diversity of opinion.)
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To: Gaffer

11 posted on 08/30/2016 7:21:34 AM PDT by Fresh Wind (Hey now baby, get into my big black car, I just want to show you what my politics are.)
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To: Fresh Wind

Great work!


12 posted on 08/30/2016 7:22:29 AM PDT by Gaffer
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To: Gaffer

Thanks, but I stole it from someone else!


13 posted on 08/30/2016 7:23:53 AM PDT by Fresh Wind (Hey now baby, get into my big black car, I just want to show you what my politics are.)
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To: Gaffer

The perspective is way off. Photoshopped.


14 posted on 08/30/2016 7:26:53 AM PDT by RegulatorCountry
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To: Red Badger

There are no pothead that are any different.


15 posted on 08/30/2016 7:30:31 AM PDT by MrEdd (Heck?Geewhiz Cripes, thats the place where people who don't believe in Gosh think they aint going.)
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To: RegulatorCountry

I noticed that also...I agree. I’d go check the date on the original photo of Amin, but I don’t think I need to.


16 posted on 08/30/2016 7:30:56 AM PDT by Gaffer
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To: Red Badger

Sounds like a better movie than their first date bs movie.


17 posted on 08/30/2016 7:39:36 AM PDT by longfellow (Bill Maher, the 21st hijacker.)
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To: Red Badger

That’s only the tip of the iceberg.
Read the excellent, ‘The Obama File’

http://theobamafile.com/indexArchive.html

This startling information was all out there when the Marxist/Muslim first ‘threw his hat into the ring’- but dumbed down Americans chose to ignore it.
We had to prove to the world we are not prejudiced by electing an ‘African American’.

The Marxist/Muslim has almost destroyed America, and our way of life.


18 posted on 08/30/2016 10:40:05 AM PDT by patriot08 (Post 5th generation Texan-(girl type) ANGRY? REFUSE TO VOTE? HELLO HILLARY!!!)
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