--- description: The Republican Senator says his answer is "irrelevant" title: Marco Rubio Will Not Say If He Has Smoked Marijauna image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf8f64d90ef62f447/69868283cd684867910934d5/rubio.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [2016 Election](/tag/2016-election/) ## 2016 Election Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Marco Rubio Won't Say if He Smoked Pot by [Maya Rhodan](/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Feb 11, 2014 1:09 AM CUT  Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, on Capitol Hill in Washington on April 18, 2013 Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, on Capitol Hill in Washington on April 18, 2013Jason Reed—Reuters by [Maya Rhodan](/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Feb 11, 2014 1:09 AM CUT Florida Senator Marco Rubio doesn’t want you to know if he ever smoked marijuana. In an [interview](http://fusion.net/leadership/story/marco-rubio-smoked-marijuana-422360 "undefined") on Monday, he refused to answer the question posed by a TV reporter, saying that the information could do more harm than good. “I’ll tell you why I never answer that question,” the Republican Senator said during an interview with Fusion’s Mariana Atencio in Miami. “If I tell you that I haven’t, you won’t believe me. And if I tell you that I did, then kids will look up to me and say, ‘Well, I can smoke marijuana because look how he made it.’” Rubio, a possible contender for President in 2016, said that in his teen years he made enough “dumb decisions as is” and didn’t need marijuana or alcohol leading to more. “I know I’m sounding like a 42-year-old dad, but here’s the problem, you can make mistakes at 17 that will be with you the rest of your life,” Rubio said before saying his answer to the question was irrelevant. \[[Fusion](http://fusion.net/leadership/story/marco-rubio-smoked-marijuana-422360 "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6413/marco-rubio-marijuana-pot-smoking-question/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6413/marco-rubio-marijuana-pot-smoking-question/"},"headline":"Marco Rubio Won't Say if He Smoked Pot","datePublished":"2014-02-11T01:09:34.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T06:22:02.476Z","description":"The Republican Senator says his answer is \"irrelevant\"","url":"https://time.com/6413/marco-rubio-marijuana-pot-smoking-question/","keywords":["2016 Election","Marijuana","Pot","2016 Election topic","Sen. Marco Rubio"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf8f64d90ef62f447/69868283cd684867910934d5/rubio.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf8f64d90ef62f447/69868283cd684867910934d5/rubio.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"U.S. Senator Rubio, part of the U.S. Senate's \"Gang on Eight\", speaks during news briefing on Capitol Hill in Washington","caption":"U.S. Senator Rubio, part of the U.S. Senate's \"Gang on Eight\", speaks during news briefing on Capitol Hill in Washington","creditText":"Jason Reed—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6413/marco-rubio-marijuana-pot-smoking-question/","name":"Marco Rubio Won't Say if He Smoked Pot"}}]}] ```