The Hightower Report

With marijuana prohibition finally ending in states and cities across the land – including full legalization and/or commercialization in Alaska, Colorado, Washington state, Oregon, and Washington, D.C. – who better than our friend Willie Nelson to lead the way for weed quality and social responsibility?

The iconic musician and intrepid fighter for justice has announced that he will market his own marijuana brand, "Willie's Reserve," and open a group of stores selling top-quality pot and paraphernalia. "I feel like I was buying so much of it, it's time to start selling it back!" Willie said of his new weed venture. "I'm looking forward to working with the best growers in Colorado and Washington to make sure our product is the best on the market." A tireless champion of small farmers, civil liberties, the environment, common sense, and the common good, he plans to start rolling out his stores and products (including hemp goods) this year, and he'll expand further as state laws allow. In the typical Willie way, the stores will be "the anti-Wal-Mart model," with a core purpose of helping expand the market for small, energy-efficient, environmentally sound growers.

Over the years I have cited Willie's work in calling for legalization and restoration of hemp farming in America. I've also called repeatedly for an end to the Orwellian, Kafka-esque drug war that has criminalized the cannabis equivalent of cocktail hour – 750,000 people are arrested each year for marijuana-related offenses.

And now, I salute the innumerable grassroots activists who've steadily pushed America from the darkness of marijuana madness to being able to light up a Willie without getting busted! Find out more at Marijuana Policy Project (www.mpp.org), and also at NORML (www.norml.org).