Willie Nelson Goes Forth On The War On Big Pot
Willie Nelson is one of the most outspoken people when it comes to legalizing marijuana. He’s been an enthusiast for decades, so this isn’t anything new, but now Nelson is forging ahead with the shift that some states have made to legalize marijuana. In fact, 23 states have chosen to legalize pot in some form.
Nelson has started the war on Big Pot in an effort to keep big businesses hands off of marijuana — simply put, he wants pot to be clean without having corporate influence interfere with his turf. Instead of a booming business, Nelson sees marijuana as an incentive to revitalize farms, taking a more environmental approach.
Inside Willie Nelson’s crusade to stop Corporate America from co-opting the legal weed trade https://t.co/kWf84te1tI pic.twitter.com/SQOkw3oHEu
— New York Magazine (@NYMag) November 2, 2015
Unfortunately, as pot continues to be legalized, the war on “big pot,” A.K.A. companies getting their hands in it for a profit, becomes a harder war to wage. In honor of the 30th anniversary of Farm Aid, a concert that Nelson started for farmers, Nelson sat down for an interview with New York Magazine.
The folk singer spoke about the marijuana industry and businesses potentially monopolizing marijuana. “You have a lot of bureaucracy and bulls**t, a lot of big corporations. So that’s what we’re up against. They’re trying to monopolize it all … That ain’t right, and we’ll do everything we can to keep that from happening.”
As for his Farm Aid benefit this past year, the musical acts included Nelson, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews Band, Imagine Dragons, Jack Johnson, Kacey Musgraves, James Johnson, Mavis Staples, Blackwood Quartet, and more.
#Austin‘s #WillieNelson Crusades to Stop Big #Pot https://t.co/29wM4VvV2c @MMJNJ #CannabisDebate #LegalMarijuana pic.twitter.com/oIx9G1hby7
— Jim Ward (@JimWard6) November 2, 2015
Farm Aid was organized by Willie Nelson, musician John Mellencamp, and Neil Young back in 1985 to raise awareness about the loss of family farms and to bring in funds to keep those family owned farms on the land. Another musician who’s just as passionate about this cause is Dave Matthews, who joined back in 2011 on the board of directors. So far, Farm Aid has raised $48 million dollars to benefit strong agriculture.
The issues that Farm Aid focuses on include corporate power, industrial agriculture, GMOs, farm policy, soil & water, and family farmers.
As for it’s farm policy, the site states as follows.
“Our food system is broken, but it didn’t get that way by accident. The food on our plates has been shaped by a misguided series of pro-corporate policies that carve out an agricultural system that works for the few, at the expense of the many. Farm policy — combined with growing corporate consolidation and unchecked power “
Nelson isn’t just talking about stopping corporations from profiting off of pot. He also has a weed company of his own. Back on April 20, the unofficial pot smoker’s day, Nelson announced his own brand of weed. As the Inquisitr reported, the singer announced that he was starting Willie’s Reserve, his own pot business. At the time, Nelson said that it was “a life’s work realized.”
When the news started to circulate about his brand of pot and his business, Nelson told Rolling Stone about his views.
“I will make sure it’s good or it won’t be on sale. There should be a menu just like in a restaurant because there’s so many different kinds of pot that do many different things. It’s a good idea to have everything labeled for what it does, what it don’t do [and] how powerful it is.”
What do you think about Willie Nelson’s stance on taking down big businesses?
[Photo by Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images]
