Willie Nelson is happy about legal weed in D.C., thinks Obama is, too

(Image credit: CNN)

last updated 8 January 2015

Country legend and legendary pot smoker Willie Nelson performed for a group of veterans at the White House on Thursday night, two days after the voters in the District of Columbia overwhelmingly approved legalizing marijuana. So, of course, when Brooke Baldwin interviewed Nelson on CNN, she brought it up.

"Do you think it would help people in D.C. get along?" Baldwin asked Nelson. After a slightly awkward pause, Nelson laughed: "Well, I really think stress is the cause of a lot of our problems, and I really believe that the best medicine for stress is pot. Yeah, I think it would make us get along better, all over the world."

Baldwin asked him to repeat a story he'd told her about, presumably, smoking weed on the roof of the Carter White House, but Nelson declined, in the most Willie way possible. He said he probably wouldn't bring up the legal pot issue with Obama on Thursday night, but added:

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I think I realize how he feels about it and I've read some of his books and things about when he was a kid, how he may have delved into that matter a little bit. I'm sure he's very understanding of what is going on and he may be happy to see it happening. [Nelson, on CNN]

It actually won't happen unless the next Republican-controlled Congress signs off, so neither Nelson nor Obama should hold their breath. Watch the interview below. --Peter Weber

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.