Update: Vice reached out to a representative for Willie Nelson, who responded with the following statement: “Willie has not quit cannabis.” The implication being, it seems, that while Nelson has quit smoking pot, he has not quit ingesting it. Everything is fine, people! Carry on with your Wednesday!
Original story continues below:
Does Willie Nelson know something we don’t? Are we truly so fucked that even smoking pot won’t help to soothe or, at the very least, distract us from certain apocalyptic doom? Or is the legendary country singer, now in his 86th year on this planet, just sick of the smell? One thing is for certain: It’s the end of an era. During a recent appearance on San Antonio’s KSAT, Nelson told the news station that he’s done with marijuana:
I have abused my lungs quite a bit in the past, so breathing is a little more difficult these days, and I have to be careful. I’ve mistreated myself since I was this big. I started out smoking cedar bark, and it went from that to cigarettes to whatever. And that almost killed me. … I take better care of myself today than I did then.
The news comes just a few months after Nelson canceled a string of tour dates due to breathing problems. It seems that his recent decision is related, as Nelson went on to describe his concert performances as a workout:
Singing out there for an hour is a good workout. Your lungs are the biggest muscle you’ve got. So when you’re out there working, you are working out.
Nelson may have abandoned us, but at least we still have other cool potheads like Snoop Dogg (and, fine, his friend Martha Stewart), Matthew McConaughey, and Woody Harrelson. But if those guys quit, all we’ve got left is Kevin Smith. And then we’re really fucked.