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Graham Platner, a Democratic candidate for the Senate in Maine, has boasted about recent social media stories about his hard drug use while on military leave – adding that he had “no regrets” about his past escapades.
Platner, a veteran of the Marine Corps and Army National Guard, in a 2020 Reddit post made under the handle P-Hustle that he was “making it up” by using drugs while passing through Spain on a military trip. In a post made that year, he admitted to buying cocaine.
“Street price,” Platner wrote in July 2020. “I always wonder what street you buy your cocaine from, because it’s not the street I buy my cocaine from.”
The Marine Corps prohibits personnel from using illegal drugs, threatening those who violate its rules with dismissal and criminal prosecution.
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Sen. Bernie Sanders and Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner stand together during the “Fighting Oligarchy” tour at the Collins Center for the Arts on the campus of the University of Maine in Orono, Maine, on May 24, 2026. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
“Any marine caught using or selling drugs while under military custody will be prosecuted under the Constitution. [Uniform Code of Military Justice] and considered for separation from the Marine Corps,” a Marine Corps memo on the subject reads.
It is unclear whether Platner disclosed his drug use to his superiors. However, he admitted to using the substances while on the Marine Corps payroll.
“It took me two months to finish, most of them on combat leave, so I was just making a little money for myself,” he wrote in February 2020. “I traveled to Europe on the government’s dime, walked the Camino de Santiago, did drugs and found happiness in hostels all over the continent. Then I came home and went to college.”
“I highly recommend it. No regrets,” he added.
Graham Platner, a US Marine and Army veteran and oyster farmer, launched a Democratic race for the US Senate in Maine in August. (Graham Platner Senate Campaign)
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Given that Platner enrolled at George Washington University in 2008, the packing trip probably happened around that time, when he was about 24 years old.
The admission to drug use adds to a growing archive of deleted Reddit posts that have put Plattner’s campaign on the defensive, with the Maine Democrat resisting calls to drop out of the race. Platner’s internet history, along with new revelations of infidelity, has become a test of how much scrutiny a candidate can survive.
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Senator Graham Platner is under fire, but it was his wife Amy Gertner who came out with a five-minute social media interview on the campaign trail denouncing the ‘attack’ while not denying allegations of infidelity in the new marriage. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
The Washington Free Beacon was the first to report on the unspecified Reddit post related to drug use.
While Platner has described some of his past posts — such as those where he used profanity and made graphic sexual comments — with “crude humor” and “offensive language” familiar to the military, it’s unclear if that same description applies to his admission of drug use.
The Platner campaign did not respond to a request for comment when reached by Fox News Digital on Wednesday.
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Platner’s since-deleted Reddit posts — which included insults directed at white rural Americans, support for communism and socialism, glorification of political violence, and accusations that the Army is full of “fat” and “lazy” people — have dominated online discussion about Platner’s candidacy, even though the Democratic hopeful has yet to make it to the polls.
At press time, polls generally show Platner leading incumbent GOP Sen. Susan Collins to represent Maine, though polls have underestimated her strength in the state.
