THE POPE OF AUSTIN, TEXAS
HIGH TIMES Interview: Willie Nelson | 2007-11-27In February 2007, Willie Nelson sat down at his home in Maui and smoked a joint with his old friend Keith Stroup, the founder of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). Between them, the two old heads hatched a plan for the Austin Freedom Festival, a benefit for marijuana-law reform, which was held in August. Willie Nelson, Asleep at the Wheel all played in praise of Mary Jane, and NORML shared the proceeds with the Marijuana Policy Project, the Wo/Men’s Alliance for Medical Marijuana and Green Aid. Just before he hit the stage, Willie sat down once again to talk with HIGH TIMES.
Of course, gaining an audience required the patience of a saint.
By Richard Cusick | Photos by Chris Eudaley
Merle Haggard steps off Willie Nelson’s bus just as HIGH TIMES steps on. In the 11 highly focused minutes that follow, the Pope of Austin, TX, will pontificate on being medicalized in Hawaii, arrested in Louisiana and pissed off in Texas. The Red-Headed Stranger will film a fast potcast and spend three minutes more posing for a national magazine cover with fistfuls of weed. Willie is temperamentally gracious—always—so as the clock runs down, I suggest one more shot.
The Pope breaks into a ball-busting grin. “Now don’t get all creative on me,” quips this most lovable old geezer as he holds the Bubble Gum buds like a pair of maracas and takes the final pose. “Y’already got too much time.”
Two years earlier, when America’s most beloved stoner sat down for a sesh with the world’s No. 1 pot magazine, things were much different. That was Maryland, and we had time for a leisurely chat over three joints of Sour Diesel. In Maryland, Willie Nelson was merely a national musical icon with a guaranteed place in American cultural history. In Austin, he’s something more: He’s a saint among sinners and worshipped as wise...read more
I like Willie Nelson not just because he enjoys marijuana. But because he is a real person. He's not afraid to be WHO HE IS, and never has been. I respect that. Ron Paul respects the rights of people like Willie Nelson and me too.
Why we Smoke?
The universe is said to have been created through the allegory of breath into life, thus shaping a materialized vision of preferred change.
The innate conceptual link of mind and body transformation through breath as a tradition exists in most historical cultures possessing a societal importance on magical precepts, self-discovery, or expansion towards a more personalized relationship with universal forces.
The pleasurable act of smoking at its base level touches a primal need to align our spirit with higher energies, guiding us in the direction of a higher definition of self awareness.
One of the ways the prohibition of Marijuana began
Fact and Myth
Myth: Marijuana's Harms Have Been Proved Scientifically. In the 1960s and 1970s, many people believed that marijuana was harmless. Today we know that marijuana is much more dangerous than previously believed.
Fact: In 1972, after reviewing the scientific evidence, the National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse concluded that while marijuana was not entirely safe, its dangers had been grossly overstated. Since then, researchers have conducted thousands of studies of humans, animals, and cell cultures. None reveal any findings dramatically different from those described by the National Commission in 1972. In 1995, based on thirty years of scientific research editors of the British medical journal Lancet concluded that "the smoking of cannabis, even long term, is not harmful to health."
Myth: Marijuana Has No Medicinal Value. Safer, more effective drugs are available. They include a synthetic version of THC, marijuana's primary active ingredient, which is marketed in the United States under the name Marinol.
Fact: Marijuana has been shown to be effective in reducing the nausea induced by cancer chemotherapy, stimulating appetite in AIDS patients, and reducing intraocular pressure in people with glaucoma. There is also appreciable evidence that marijuana reduces muscle spasticity in patients with neurological disorders. A synthetic capsule is available by prescription, but it is not as effective as smoked marijuana for many patients. Pure THC may also produce more unpleasant psychoactive side effects than smoked marijuana. Many people use marijuana as a medicine today, despite its illegality. In doing so, they risk arrest and imprisonment.
Myth: Marijuana is Highly Addictive. Long term marijuana users experience physical dependence and withdrawal, and often need professional drug treatment to break their marijuana habits.
Fact: Most people who smoke marijuana smoke it only occasionally. A small minority of Americans - less than 1 percent - smoke marijuana on a daily basis. An even smaller minority develop a dependence on marijuana. Some people who smoke marijuana heavily and frequently stop without difficulty. Others seek help from drug treatment professionals. Marijuana does not cause physical dependence. If people experience withdrawal symptoms at all, they are remarkably mild.
Myth: Marijuana is a Gateway Drug. Even if marijuana itself causes minimal harm, it is a dangerous substance because it leads to the use of "harder drugs" like heroin, LSD, and cocaine.
Fact: Marijuana does not cause people to use hard drugs. What the gateway theory presents as a causal explanation is a statistic association between common and uncommon drugs, an association that changes over time as different drugs increase and decrease in prevalence. Marijuana is the most popular illegal drug in the United States today. Therefore, people who have used less popular drugs such as heroin, cocaine, and LSD, are likely to have also used marijuana. Most marijuana users never use any other illegal drug. Indeed, for the large majority of people, marijuana is a terminus rather than a gateway drug.
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