Willie Nelson

 

The much beloved singer/songwriter Willie Nelson credits his use of marijuana with saving his life. He told Country Music Television's Inside Fame program,"I used to smoke three, four packs of cigarettes a day. I used to drink as much whiskey and beer as anybody in the world. I would have been dead if it hadn't been for pot, because when I started smoking pot I quit smoking cigarettes and drinking." Adding that he doesn't encourage drug use by young people, Nelson says that marijuana is the best vice in dealing with stress. "The highest killer on the planet is stress, and so many people medicate themselves in one way or another," he said. "But the best medicine for stress, if you have to take something, is pot."

Nelson, who was chosen to sing "God Bless America" at the star-studded post-9/11 concert, is currently on the "Warped Tour" in a biodeisel bus running on his own brand of BioWillie fuel. The Farm Aid co-founder is touring with CSNY, Pearl Jam, Bonnie Raitt, Bon Jovi, and Dave Matthews in 50 buses and 18 trucks. Seems that good news has been somewhat overshadowed by the silly news that on September 18 Willie's bus was stopped by police in Louisiana who found 1 1/2 lbs of pot and 2/10 of a pound of mushrooms. Since all five of the bus's occupants claimed ownership of the "drugs," all were charged with misdemeanors and sent on their way.

The road stop was probably random, although one wonders whether Nelson's support of pro-legalization Texas gubernatorial candidate Kinky Freidman and California Lt. Governor candidate/medical marijuana activist Lynnette Shaw may have been motivating factors. Freidman told a University of Houston audience he'd spoken to Willie, who said, "Thank goodness they only found a bag of pot. If it had been spinach, I'd be dead." (BTW, it turns out the E. coli bacteria in that tainted organic spinach originated in grain fed beef, the real culprit.)