highly likely
ICONIC MUSICIAN & ACTIVIST
WILLIE NELSON H i g h l y L i ke l y h i g h l i g h t s C a n n a b i s p i o n e e r s w h o h a v e p a v e d t h e w a y t o g r e a t e r h e r b a l a c c e p t a n c e.
MY FRIENDS, this column has now been published over 80 times in the family of Leaf magazines. That’s 80 different subjects to admire and learn about in connection to Cannabis. Some are familiar, some not so much. How is it then, that I somehow overlooked whom many consider to be the greatest living Cannabis activist and celebrity? Why I’ve never stopped to write about the weed-fueled life of Willie Nelson … I don’t know. But I correct that mistake this month.
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CREATIVE COMMONS
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“THE LEGENDARY SINGER AND GUITAR PLAYER TURNED 89 YEARS OLD THIS YEAR AND FOR MOST OF HIS ADULT LIFE, HE’S BEEN HARD AT WORK TRYING TO DESTIGMATIZE CANNABIS CULTURE. may 2022
illie Nelson is one of the Nelson began to realize not just the greatest country music harmlessness of smoking pot, but artists of all time. His kind, the healing powers of the plant. An gentle demeanor and advocate was born. easygoing sound have endeared The rest, as they say, is history. him to millions upon millions of There’s the story of Willie smoking fans. You never hear anybody say a joint on the roof of the White anything bad about Willie Nelson. House, and of him attempting to do The legendary singer and guitar the same at the Texas Governor’s player turned 89 years old this Mansion. And there’s all of the year and for most of his adult life, celebrities that have wanted to he’s been hard at work trying to smoke with him, from Snoop Dogg destigmatize Cannabis culture. to Toby Keith to Luke Wilson. Nelson’s first But Nelson experience smoking wasn’t just content weed was in 1954 at to live the celebrity a roadside bar near life of the world’s Fort Worth, Texas. most recognizable He was 21 years old weed connoisseur and a big drinker – instead, he’s (whiskey being his worked tirelessly choice) when he tried since the late ‘70s a joint given to him to normalize the by a fellow musician use of Cannabis. – but it didn’t do That’s been done anything for him. primarily through It wouldn’t be until his own serene Nelson on the cover six months later that personality and of Rolling Stone’s Nelson finally figured a sort of honesty April 2019 Weed Issue. out how to properly whenever he’s inhale the low-grade asked about his THC Cannabis of the 1950s. use of the plant, not to mention “One night I did it right,” said his namesake brand of legal weed Nelson. Thus began his love affair – Willie’s Reserve – which proudly with the herb. adorns shelves of dispensaries It wouldn’t be until 1971, across the U.S. however, that Nelson would finally At almost 90 years old, Willie put a reference to weed in a song. Nelson doesn’t smoke the herb It was a veiled reference (to a as much these days, but he does “green telephone”), of course, still enjoy the benefits of Cannabis because at that time Cannabis via edibles. And for all of us still usage – even in the outlaw country smoking out there, we have people scene that Willie was a part of – like Willie Nelson to thank for was still a taboo subject. But as he paving the way toward Cannabis continued to consume Cannabis, freedom.
STORY by PACER STACKTRAIN for LEAF NATION
