It may not count as an endorsement, but rapper Snoop Dogg—last seen making news in Texas for his Hudspeth County pot bust—gave Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul a shout-out Monday. The friend of Willie Nelson and enthusiastic (medical) marijuana user shared this with his nearly fourteen million Facebook fans:

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Snoop Dogg is “presumably drawn to Paul due to the libertarian-leaning candidate’s stance on drugs,” wrote Tim Kenneally of the Wrap, going way out on a limb. Kenneally continued, “Paul, an advocate of smaller federal government, was a co-sponsor of the States’ Rights to Medical Marijuana Act, and supports the Personal Use of Marijuana by Responsible Adults Act of 2008.”

But Paul would probably not accept if Snoop passed him the vaporizer, as Dino Grandoni of the Atlantic Wire noted, linking to a report by Andrea Vasquez of the Houston Chronicle: “Paul has clarified that he has no interest in the drug, but when it comes to allowing or prohibiting certain ‘personal habits,’ he thinks the federal government should stay out of it,” Vasquez wrote. 

The Wrap‘s Kenneally did wonder if Snoop was aware of the controversy over racist content in Paul’s 1980s newsletters, which was also a hotly-debated topic among the three thousand-plus Facebook commenters on Snoop’s page. Last week a former Paul associate told the Washington Post the Congressman had more involvement in the newsletters than he’s previous admitted (which Paul then denied).

At the Paul-sympathetic website LewRockwell.com (“anti-state, anti-war, pro-market”), blogger Anthony Gregory—perhaps mindful of the way some Paulies took exception when the Nevada brothel Moonlight Bunny Ranch backed their man—didn’t shy away from Snoop’s imprimatur. He wrote:

Some humorless folks might be turned off, but I don’t think this will hurt the campaign nearly as much as some people fear. Virtually no one is attacking Ron for his position on marijuana, a position that a majority of Americans now hold. Rather, his far more controversial views on the welfare-warfare state draw the most criticism, yet those are very important for him to stress regardless. But I’m glad people are recognizing he’s the only major candidate in over thirty years – or perhaps ever – to call for ending the drug war.

Not coincidentally, Stephanie Condon of CBS News reported that eighteen of the twenty most popular questions at President Barack Obama’s online YouTube chat on Monday had “something to do with marijuana policy, including the legalization of marijuana use, the cost of the war on drugs and other related issues.”

“I think Snoop will be just the beginning,” wrote one poster at Ron Paul Forums in a thread about that online chat. “Ron will win (the California Republican primary) with this issue,” opined another.