cannabisnews.com: Willie Nelson To Perform At Marijuana Benefit Willie Nelson To Perform At Marijuana Benefit Posted by CN Staff on August 09, 2007 at 21:09:11 PT By Jay Root Source: Star-Telegram Austin, TX -- It's been decades since Willie Nelson smoked that first joint in Fort Worth, but -- Ain't it funny how time slips away? -- he's still singing the praises of pot.On Friday, the country music legend headlines Austin Freedom Fest, a benefit concert for four pro-marijuana groups, including the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. Nelson co-chairs NORML's advisory board. "Marijuana is like sex," the Hill Country crooner wrote in his 1988 biography, Willie. "If I don't do it every day I get a headache."Nelson first smoked marijuana in 1954 in Fort Worth, where he spent his formative years in and out of the rough-and-tumble honky-tonks off Jacksboro Highway. More than 20 years later, Nelson admits, he smoked grass on the White House roof when Jimmy Carter was president. "Marijuana should be recognized for what it is, as a medicine, an herb that grows in the ground," Nelson wrote. "If you need it, use it. People who smoke it and get real paranoid don't need it."The concert at the Backyard in Austin will bring together a variety of musicians and activists, all united by the goal of easing restrictions on marijuana. Nelson will be joined on stage by the Texas swing band Asleep at the Wheel. Also performing at the concert are Paula Nelson, Jackie "The Joke Man" Martling and Carolyn Wonderland.Mark Stepnoski, a pro-legalization activist and former Cowboys player, is helping to organize the event. General admission tickets were going for $52 and reserved seats could be had for $62 as of Thursday. VIP tickets are sold out.Proceeds from the event will be split evenly among NORML, the Marijuana Policy Project, the Wo/Man's Alliance for Medical Marijuana and Green Aid, a legal defense fund, organizers said.Nelson did not respond to a request to discuss the concert, but Rob Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project, said the funds will be used for legalization efforts around the country. At least a dozen states allow people to use marijuana to relieve pain or treat other ailments, and Kampia said his group is helping to push ballot initiatives making medical marijuana legal in several other states."The goal is to end marijuana prohibition in the U.S.," Kampia said.The redheaded singer is no stranger to marijuana laws. Nelson was charged with possessing a small amount of pot in 1994 after he was found asleep in his car near Waco with part of a hand-rolled cigarette in the ashtray. The charges were dropped after a judge ruled that evidence had been illegally seized. Nelson and his tour manager were fined and placed on probation this year after they pleaded guilty to misdemeanor marijuana possession in Louisiana -- stemming from a tour bus inspection last year on Interstate 10.Federal authorities continue to try to stop the drug's distribution. In recent days they raided what were described as the largest marijuana plantations in North Texas history. Given that vices like tobacco and alcohol are legal, Nelson has said he doesn't understand all the fuss over adults' use of a natural weed."I would be in favor of legalizing marijuana entirely, but I don't like to think of a government having the power to legalize something like an herb," he wrote in his autobiography. "An herb belongs to us people to use as we need, and it is no government's business."Online: http://www.austinfreedomfest.comSource: Ft. Worth Star-Telegram (TX)Author: Jay RootPublished: August 9, 2007Copyright: 2007 Star-TelegramContact: letters star-telegram.comWebsite: http://www.star-telegram.com/Related Article: Nelson's Freedom Fest Focuses On Marijuanahttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread23241.shtmlCannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #7 posted by FoM on August 11, 2007 at 14:56:43 PT Musicians Support Legalizing Marijuana Poll and Video:http://www.news8austin.com/content/your_news/default.asp?ArID=190063 [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by whig on August 10, 2007 at 11:20:31 PT Hope If God is with us who can stand against us? [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by Hope on August 10, 2007 at 09:05:07 PT So many people Are trying so very hard to make this a better world by ending the prohibition of cannabis.Cowardly fools in positions of authority, who imagine themselves, falsely, to be wiser than God, himself, are actively and passively, supporting one of the authoritarian and hideously misplaced and foolishly fear driven tragedies in the history of mankind...again. This time, this contorted, corrupt, immoral, moralist agenda is what they are doing to people and the entire country and world in the name of their cannabis prohibition. [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by FoM on August 10, 2007 at 06:40:54 PT SFC: Weeds http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/08/10/DDBORFP29.DTL&type=tvradio [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by Sinsemilla Jones on August 10, 2007 at 02:19:12 PT Willie's words of wisdom - "An herb belongs to us people to use as we need, and it is no government's business."Poets should write our laws.I think I remember pretty much exactly what Willie Nelson said on Art Bell, 10 or so years ago -"Doctors say the main cause of most disease is stress. Marijuana is the best medicine for stress in the world."Poets should probably write our prescriptions, too. [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by Sinsemilla Jones on August 10, 2007 at 01:59:46 PT FoM #1 (It's a post reference and a sentiment!) If California don't want it, I'm sure NORML could do a lot with a billion dollars. We could really see a real advertising campaign with that kind of money!So all those out there making mj money, pay your taxes to your favorite cannabis organization and maybe we can win this thing. [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by FoM on August 09, 2007 at 21:13:55 PT Fox News Article California Petitioner Says State Budget Problems Could Be Fixed by PotAugust 9, 2007http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,292799,00.html [ Post Comment ] Post Comment