Willie Nelson: ‘The Best Medicine For Stress Is Pot’

Willie Nelson has been a proponent of legalizing marijuana for decades. He’s also been one of the drug’s most satisfied customers and one could argue that it’s kept him relevant to younger audiences for longer than he would have been otherwise.

Not that Nelson’s music isn’t superb, it’s just that generations have a tendency to forget the acts of yesteryear. But with Willie, they haven’t.

Recently, while speaking to Yahoo!, Willie Nelson fielded a number of questions regarding his marijuana past and shared some of his feelings regarding the current political landscape. Regarding what might cure Washington’s gridlocked ills, he had this to say.

“I really think stress is the cause of a lot of our problems, and I believe the best medicine for stress is pot… Yeah, I think it would make us get along better — all over the world.”

Those familiar with Nelson’s past know there wasn’t a bit of sarcasm hiding in that smirk. This is, after all, the man said to have smoked marijuana on the roof of the White House during a visit with President Carter in the ’70s.

While there is little doubt that he meant what he said, it’s still a difficult concept to imagine: Mitch McConnell and Harry Reid toking on a bud, that is.

As for the legalization of marijuana, Willie Nelson believed it was “only a matter of time.”

“I think [it will be legal] once people realize basically the bottom line — how much money there is in it,” he said. “Colorado and the other states have shown already what a lucrative business it is.”

Nelson also had a few things to say about how voters on Tuesday overwhelmingly backed legalization of marijuana in the nation’s capital, speculating that Obama “may be happy” about the results.

“I think I realize how [Obama] feels about it, and I’ve read some of his books and things about how he was a kid, he may have delved into that matter a bit… So I’m sure he’s very understanding of what’s going on, and he may be happy to be see it happening.”

If Obama is, in fact, happy about the vote, it was the only thing he had to be happy about on Tuesday — well, that and the passage of increased minimum wages across the country.

Do you think Willie Nelson has a point about American politics — that if John Boehner and President Obama had a bud instead of a beer, Washington could get more done?

[Image via Josh Withers / Shutterstock.com]