Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai has said she used drugs a few times while studying in the UK — but one time, things went really wrong.
In her upcoming memoir, Finding My Way, coming out on October 21, 2025, Malala talks about different parts of her life — from growing up in Swat to her years at Oxford. And yes, she admits she experimented with weed a few times, something she says she didn’t expect to write about.
According to The Guardian, Malala writes that one of those times left her shaken. After using weed with some university friends, she started feeling sick, terrified, and trapped in her own body.
She describes how it happened one night at Oxford University. Her friend Anisa took her to an old shed where a couple of boys were sitting, drinking and laughing. On the table, there was some kind of glass device. She hadn’t seen anything like it before. After watching them use it, she decided to try it too.
Malala writes she had tried cannabis once or twice before but nothing serious ever happened. This time, though, everything went sideways. The smoke hit her hard. She started coughing badly, then tried again — and that’s when it all started to blur.
Her heart was racing. She felt dizzy. She couldn’t tell where she was. Then, out of nowhere, her mind took her back — to Swat, to when she was 15, to that afternoon on the school bus when she was shot.
She says her legs went heavy. Her muscles wouldn’t move. She was panicking and trying to control her body but couldn’t. She felt like she was back in the hospital, unable to breathe.
Her friend helped her back to the hostel. She collapsed on the floor, terrified. Malala says she could feel something stuck in her throat, just like the tube she had in her throat when she was in a coma years ago.
Later, she crawled to the bathroom and threw up. Every time she closed her eyes, the memories came rushing back — the gunman, the noise, the blood, everything. She couldn’t sleep at all that night.
She writes that she kept slapping her face to stay awake, afraid she might die if she fell asleep. By the time morning came, she felt a little better but stayed shaken for days.
