WILLIE NELSON TO PERFORM AT MARIJUANA BENEFIT

AUSTIN -- It's been decades since Willie Nelson smoked that first
joint in Fort Worth, but -- Ain't it funny how time slips away? --
he's still singing the praises of pot.

On Friday, the country music legend headlines Austin Freedom Fest, a
benefit concert for four pro-marijuana groups, including the National
Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. Nelson co-chairs
NORML's advisory board.

"Marijuana is like sex," the Hill Country crooner wrote in his 1988
biography, Willie. "If I don't do it every day I get a headache."

Nelson first smoked marijuana in 1954 in Fort Worth, where he spent
his formative years in and out of the rough-and-tumble honky-tonks
off Jacksboro Highway. More than 20 years later, Nelson admits, he
smoked grass on the White House roof when Jimmy Carter was president.

"Marijuana should be recognized for what it is, as a medicine, an
herb that grows in the ground," Nelson wrote. "If you need it, use
it. People who smoke it and get real paranoid don't need it."

The concert at the Backyard in Austin will bring together a variety
of musicians and activists, all united by the goal of easing
restrictions on marijuana. Nelson will be joined on stage by the
Texas swing band Asleep at the Wheel. Also performing at the concert
are Paula Nelson, Jackie "The Joke Man" Martling and Carolyn Wonderland.

Mark Stepnoski, a pro-legalization activist and former Cowboys
player, is helping to organize the event. General admission tickets
were going for $52 and reserved seats could be had for $62 as of
Thursday. VIP tickets are sold out.

Proceeds from the event will be split evenly among NORML, the
Marijuana Policy Project, the Wo/Man's Alliance for Medical Marijuana
and Green Aid, a legal defense fund, organizers said.

Nelson did not respond to a request to discuss the concert, but Rob
Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project, said the
funds will be used for legalization efforts around the country. At
least a dozen states allow people to use marijuana to relieve pain or
treat other ailments, and Kampia said his group is helping to push
ballot initiatives making medical marijuana legal in several other states.

"The goal is to end marijuana prohibition in the U.S.," Kampia said.

The redheaded singer is no stranger to marijuana laws. Nelson was
charged with possessing a small amount of pot in 1994 after he was
found asleep in his car near Waco with part of a hand-rolled
cigarette in the ashtray. The charges were dropped after a judge
ruled that evidence had been illegally seized. Nelson and his tour
manager were fined and placed on probation this year after they
pleaded guilty to misdemeanor marijuana possession in Louisiana --
stemming from a tour bus inspection last year on Interstate 10.

Federal authorities continue to try to stop the drug's distribution.
In recent days they raided what were described as the largest
marijuana plantations in North Texas history.

Given that vices like tobacco and alcohol are legal, Nelson has said
he doesn't understand all the fuss over adults' use of a natural weed.

"I would be in favor of legalizing marijuana entirely, but I don't
like to think of a government having the power to legalize something
like an herb," he wrote in his autobiography. "An herb belongs to us
people to use as we need, and it is no government's business."