Half of Americans Want Prince Harry's Visa Reviewed After Drugs Admission

More than half of of Americans believe that Prince Harry's visa should be reviewed by the Department of Homeland Security in light of his admission of drug experimentation in his memoir, despite a similar number saying he was right to include it, a new poll has revealed.

The poll, undertaken exclusively for Newsweek by strategists Redfield & Wilton, showed that 54 percent of U.S. adults from a sample of 1,500 registered voters believed that the prince's visa should be reviewed after he admitted to using cocaine and psychedelics recreationally in his memoir, Spare.

Asked "Given his admission in his book Spare that he previously consumed drugs, should Prince Harry's visa application be reviewed by the Department of Homeland Security?" 54 percent of respondents said "yes," while 29 percent said "no" and 17 percent "don't know."

The result comes as conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation is actively lobbying in Washington D.C. to have the royal's visa application made public to see if he informed immigration officials about his history with drugs.

Those applying to enter the U.S. are asked to disclose any personal violations of laws relating to the possession, use or distribution of illegal drugs. Those who do so can be turned away at the border or denied residency.

Mike Howell, director of The Heritage Foundation's Oversight Project, who filed the request to view Harry's visa application, told the Daily Mail in March: "This request is in the public interest in light of the potential revocation of Prince Harry's visa for illicit substance use and further questions regarding the Prince's drug use and whether he was properly vetted before entering the United States."

Despite the majority of Americans believing Harry's visa should be reviewed, a similar percentage said they felt the prince was right to detail his history with substance use in his memoir, which was billed as a "raw" and "unflinching" look at his life, not as a prince but as a "man."

Asked the question: "Was Prince Harry right to reveal details of his personal drug use in his book Spare?" 51 percent of respondents said "yes" opposed to just 19 percent who said "no" and 30 percent who responded "don't know."

The prince spoke frankly about his drug use and experimentation in Spare as a means of disassociation while processing the grief of losing his mother at a young age and handling the pressures of being a figure of intense public interest.

Writing of the time of Queen Elizabeth's Golden Jubilee in 2002, the prince wrote: "I had been doing cocaine around this time. At someone's country house, during a shooting weekend, I'd been offered a line, and I'd done a few more since. It wasn't much fun, and it didn't make me particularly happy, as it seemed to make everyone around me, but it did make me feel different, and that was the main goal. Feel. Different. I was a deeply unhappy seventeen-year-old boy willing to try almost anything that would alter the status quo."

He also went on to say he used marijuana and the psychedelic ayahuasca, which he found more beneficial.

Speaking in an interview to promote Spare with the trauma expert Dr. Gabor Mate, Harry expanded on his cocaine use, saying: "(Cocaine) didn't do anything for me, it was more a social thing and gave me a sense of belonging for sure. I think it probably also made me feel different to the way I was feeling, which was kind of the point. Marijuana is different, that actually really did help me."

Harry faced criticism for appearing in part, to glamorize or promote drug use or experimentation through his book and media appearances.

British drug education advocate and founder of the DSM Foundation, Fiona Spargo-Mabbs, said that Harry's revelations could prove harmful to impressionable young people.

"It is understandable that when people are struggling, they look around for ways to cope," she told the U.K.'s ITV News. "This is particularly true of young people, an increasing number of whom we know have been struggling with their mental health during and since COVID, yet who are unable to access support services because they are so stretched.

"Given this context, Prince Harry's comments about using drugs as a way of dealing with past trauma could easily be misconstrued as being true across the board."

Newsweek approached representatives of Prince Harry via email for comment.

James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek's royal reporter based in London. You can find him on Twitter at @jrcrawfordsmith and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.

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