Neal's Workshop

Willie Nelson, 73 year-old country music legend and NORML Advisory Board co-chair, was arrested for drug possession along with four other 50+ men who were traveling through Louisiana on Nelson's tour bus. A trooper had stopped the bus on a routine inspection only to notice the smell of reefer. He proceeded to inspect the bus:

A search of the bus produced 1 1/2 pounds of marijuana and slightly more than three ounces of illegal mushrooms.

There were enough drugs to merit a felony charge of distribution if they had been found in one person's possession, state police spokesman Willie Williams said. But all five claimed the drugs as their own and the drugs were not packaged for resale, so each was charged with misdemeanors, he said. All were released after the citations were issued.

That's a lot of pot and, I'm guessing, a lot of 'shrooms. But really, were these old men up to no good? Who were they hurting? Did they give the cop a hard time? Apparently not. "Willie" Williams, the officer, was quoted in the Reuters article on Nelson's arrest as saying:

"There was no trouble whatsoever," Williams said. "They were all cooperative."

Big surprise there. Even if Nelson et. al. weren't high at the time of their arrest, would we expect anything different? The state thinks so: peaceful people doing peaceful things -- like smoking pot -- are dangers to themselves and others.

Willie Nelson was wrongfully arrested -- not because he wasn't breaking the law (because he was), but because the law is wrong. We may chuckle about such a prestigious pot-smoker and generally likeable character getting busted, but make no mistake: Nelson's detainment is a product of being a slave to the state. And though you may not smoke dope or use mushrooms, you almost certainly pay taxes or toe the line on any number of other state-mandated encroachments upon your freedom. My guess is that you do it willingly and cooperatively - just like Willie Nelson. So it is that, to some degree, we are enslaved to the state.

Wouldn't you rather be free?

Random Editorial Note: Rarely can I post twice in the same day with articles including two people named "Willie" as well as two people who have essentially the same first and last names, i.e. officer William "Willie" Williams and former Health and Human Services Secretary Thomas "Tommy" Thompson.