Mimi wrote:
Nooo… I mean, why? Apart from the word ‘puff’, none of the rest of the song makes sense in terms of drugs.
That can’t constitute making a single explicit, surely.
From Wikipedia :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puff,_the_Magic_DragonQuote:
After the song's initial success, speculation arose—as early as a 1964 article in Newsweek—that the song contained veiled references to smoking marijuana.The word "paper" in the name of Puff's human friend Jackie Paper was said to be a reference to rolling papers, the words "by the sea" were interpreted as "by the C" (as in cannabis), the word "mist" stood for "smoke", the land of "Honahlee" stood for hashish, and "dragon" was interpreted as "draggin'" (i.e., inhaling smoke). Similarly, the name "Puff" was alleged to be a reference to taking a "puff" on a joint. The supposition was claimed to be common knowledge in a letter by a member of the public to The New York Times in 1984.
The authors of the song have repeatedly rejected this interpretation and have strongly and consistently denied that they intended any references to drug use. Both Lipton and Yarrow have stated, "'Puff, the Magic Dragon' is not about drugs." Yarrow has frequently explained that the song is about the hardships of growing older and has no relationship to drug-taking. He has also said that the song has "never had any meaning other than the obvious one" and is about the "loss of innocence in children." He has dismissed the suggestion of it being associated with drugs as "sloppy research".