subject: Willie Nelson Arrested on Pot Charge [print this page] Willie Nelson Arrested on Pot Charge Willie Nelson Arrested on Pot Charge
Willie Nelson was arrested on his tour bus, at a US Border Patrol checkout outside of Sierra Blanca, Texas, for 6 ounces of marijuana possession, as reported at ABC. The 77-year-old country music singer and songwriter faces up to 6 months to 2 years in jail.
Willie Nelson was arrested for pot, and it's not the first time. He was arrested back in 1995 and also in 2006. He never went to jail. But should he go to jail now?
Unlike many other celebrities who have been arrested for drug possession, Nelson is not running around town causing trouble. The country music artist is not only a singer and a songwriter; he's an activist, a promoter of tolerance and peace in a range of ways. One of Nelson's biggest achievements was becoming a founder, along with Neil Young, John Mellencamp and Dave Matthews, of Farm Aid, an organization devoted to assisting farm families.
Willie Nelson was arrested, but is marijuana really that big a deal?
Willie Nelson is a member of the Advisory Board of NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, and he is one of its major spokespersons. The goal of NORML is to make marijuana legal. One of the major points of NORML is that focusing on marijuana arrests is a waste of law enforcement's time, when there are more serious crimes to focus on, and a waste of taxpayer's money. The organization quotes Jimmy Carter, "Penalties against drug use should not be more damaging to an individual than the use of the drug itself. Nowhere is this more clear than in the laws against the possession of marijuana in private for personal use."
