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Brad Pitt, John Mayer, Charlize Theron and even "Californian Barbie" Jennifer Aniston all have more than just their A-list star status in common: they're all cannabis advocates.
So if gorgeous, svelte and uber successful celebrities can be linked with the drug and still retain their star power, it mustn't be that harmful, right?
Wrong, say community drug experts, who say the drug has been so glamorised in popular culture that it's often mistakenly viewed as a "soft" drug, and a fashionable and subversive one at that.
Indeed, cannabis was one of cornerstones of the hippie, alternative movement.
But with cannabis potency at a reported all-time high and users in their 20s-40s smoking it more dangerously when combined with a host of other drugs such as heroin and amphetamines is it time we rethink our attitudes towards the drug?
The Crime and Misconduct Commission, an independent law enforcement body set up to combat major crime in Queensland, released the report Illicit Drug Markets in Queensland in February.
It detected significant changes in Queensland's illicit drug market over the past five years, particularly in the production, supply and use of cannabis, cocaine and ecstasy.
It found that recent cannabis use in Queensland (9.5 per cent) is slightly higher than the national average (9.1 per cent).
This represents about 323,000 Queensland residents using cannabis in the past 12 months.
And it reflects an above-average rate of recent use by both Queensland females and young people (both sexes) aged 14-29.
CMC director of intelligence Chris Keen said the damning figures (see fact box, right) were of grave concern because the health risks of cannabis are high and the dangers and illicit nature of the drug have been vastly underestimated by the public.
"The traditional view of cannabis as a soft drug fails to recognise the high level of criminality involved in the supply side of the market," he said.
"There are significant health and community harms associated with cannabis use, including a growing body of evidence on the relationship between mental health problems and cannabis use.
"There is also strong evidence of the adverse impact of cannabis on driving performance."
The CMC report also found cannabis continues to dominate drug-related policing activity in Queensland. Almost 70 per cent of drug-related arrests in 2007-08 involved cannabis, although almost 90 per cent of those were for consumer offences.
And in 2007-08 almost two in five alcohol and drug-related treatment episodes in Queensland were cannabis-related.
Dr Dennis Young, executive director of Bowen Hills' Drug Arm Australasia and Centre for Addiction Research and Education, says cannabis is the second most commonly used drug in Brisbane by young people, after alcohol.
He also abhors the misconception that cannabis is harmless.
"I don't think any illegal drug should be deemed as soft," Dr Young says.
"The use of any drug can cause harm.
"The community hasn't given enough attention to cannabis use we've been focusing much more heavily on heroin or amphetamines use. Heavy cannabis use is very dangerous. And don't forget, it you smoke cannabis, you run the risk of all the cancers attached to smoking nicotine lung cancer, throat cancer.
"Drug-driving is also a huge problem. Police reports show there are significantly more people driving around on our roads under the influence of drugs than there are those under the influence of alcohol."
Dr Young says while he believes recent media reports that cannabis potency is 30 times stronger nowadays are "exaggerations", cannabis is at least 10-20 per cent stronger than in the past.
"The strength of cannabis has increased over the past 20 years, no doubt. To what extent, I'm not sure there's no conclusive evidence," he says.
"What's also changed is that young people are using cannabis more dangerously than in the past. They seldom use just one drug by itself."
Dr Young said many cannabis users didn't understand that they'd crossed the line to dependence until it was too late.
"A good way to assess if you have a cannabis addiction is to ask yourself if it's interfering with your day-to-day life and your health," he says.
"If it's crippling your relationships or your employment prospects, you've got to stop."
Meanwhile, about 10,000 people from around Australia swarmed to the annual cannabis love-in that is the Nimbin MardiGrass Festival 2010 on May 1 and 2.
I spoke to Michael Balderstone, president of pro-cannabis decriminalisation lobby group Nimbin Hemp Embassy, on the phone late last week, amid his preparations for the event.
Held since 1993, MardiGrass is "dedicated to ending the ridiculous war on weed", Balderstone says.
"It's MardiGrass you should come down!" he urged.
"Cannabis users want cheaper prices, better quality and not to be viewed as criminals.
"I think the drug should be legalised and America is showing us the way. It's got to be regulated and taxed, and that way you'd have quality control.
"I'm not saying it's harmless. Cannabis, for some people, doesn't work at all, just like alcohol doesn't work for some.
"If you have a predisposition to, or family history of, psychosis (mental illness) I think you've got to very careful. But I think under a cloud of fear, which prohibition creates, cannabis is much more harmful as people don't respect the law and it becomes more of a forbidden fruit; attractive.
"I'm not surprised it's so popular in Brisbane. It's probably the safest of all the illegal drugs out there and people enjoy it.
"It's relaxing and stirs a lot of creative juices: it's manure for the imagination."
But even Balderstone's concerned about young people's dangerous cannabis habits.
"Pot is not addictive, I find. I can smoke every day for a week and then not smoke and I won't notice it. But smoke cannabis with tobacco, and you're crawling up the walls," he says.
"I just think prohibition has created so many societal problems. I see so many young people who have criminal records, from being busted with cannabis, and they can't get jobs."
