[Sativa]

He is still recording music and still touring with his band, but music legend Willie Nelson's latest project is a first.

He's the headliner at a weekend concert organized to promote the legalization of marijuana. Proceeds from the show will go to four marijuana policy reform groups.

Nelson helped bring the groups together for the first time to strengthen their lobbying efforts to legalize marijuana.

"I'd like to see it taxed and regulated and looked upon as nothing more or less dangerous than alcohol or cigarettes," Nelson said.

Concert promoters focused on the music and barely mentioned the marijuana benefit.

Still, advertisers shied away. "Because it's illegal, and once you admit smoking it, you have committed to a crime," Nelson said. "Somewhere there's a stigma attached to it."

Nelson is standing up against that stigma. He said he's given up alcohol and cigarettes but not the pot. He wasn't always this forthright, especially in his days as a budding musician.

"With age you get a little more nerve," he said.

"What's a guy like me who smoked for 50 years. If I'm running into the walls or making a lot of bad decisions, but I do a two-hour show every night and remember 40 or 50 songs, so I challenge anyone out there. You might tie it, but I doubt you can beat it."

Nelson's argument isn't getting much support from Texas lawmakers.

Twelve states have legalized marijuana for medicinal use since 1995, and Texas is not one of them.

State Representative Elliot Naishtat recently sponsored a medicinal marijuana bill for patients with a medical condition such as AIDS, glaucoma or multiple sclerosis, but Representative Diane Delisi, the chairwoman of the Public Health Committee, denied the bill a hearing.

"Making it available for medicinal use won't make it any safer than any other drug," said Laurie DeLong, a drug treatment counselor at the Phoenix Academy.

DeLong agrees with Delisi's decision and said making marijuana legal, even for ailing patients, gives it a perception that it's safe.

"I know that any given day I may have 60 kids in my program, and that's what they started with, and that's really hard for me to reconcile," DeLong said.

"They started first with marijuana."

Nelson said he understands that point, and believes children should stay away from all drugs.

"I don't recommend anything for children, cause you need to let your lungs and mind develop, but once you get to be 74 years old, I don't think anyone should tell you what to do," Nelson said.

Austin Freedom Fest is Friday at the Backyard.

Knowing they have an uphill battle in Texas, marijuana activists plan to spend the concert's proceeds in New York, Illinois and other states that are closer to legalizing medical marijuana.


News Mod: CoZmO - http://www.420Magazine.com
Source: WPTV NewsChannel 5 (West Palm Beach, FL)
Author: NBC
Contact: pnroghaar@wptv.com
Copyright: 2007 The E.W. Scripps Co.
Website: Willie Nelson sings to legalize marijuana - WPTV NewsChannel 5