Willie Nelson Has Quit Smoking Marijuana

Despite his longtime love for marijuana, Willie Nelson has come to the end of the road with getting high.

As per a new interview with Houston's KSAT TV, the country titan, 86, explained that he has ditched smoking weed because it has contributed to his breathing issues, which caused the star to cancel a string of tour dates earlier this year. "Singing out there for an hour is a good workout. Your lungs are the biggest muscle you've got," he explained. "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 started smoking cedar bark, went from that to cigarettes to whatever, and that almost killed me."

Nelson's revelation is a big surprise, considering he's known for his love of cannabis and even has his own line called Willie's Reserve. Back in April, he told Rolling Stone that marijuana saved his life because it gave him an alternative to smoking cigarettes. "I used to smoke two or three packs of cigarettes a day and drank whatever was there to drink and I had pneumonia for or five times, my lung collapsed, I almost died, so I said, 'Wait a minute, I ain’t getting that high off of Chesterfields,' so I threw out the cigarettes, rolled up 20 joints, stuck it in there, and I haven’t had a cigarette since," he explained. "I haven’t drank that much either, because one will make me want the other — I smoke a cigarette, I wanna drink a whiskey. I wouldn’t be alive [without marijuana]. It saved my life, really."

Despite his late age, Nelson has continued on with his stage show, but his health has certainly become worrisome for fans. Just last summer, he withdrew from his appearance at the Outlaw Music Festival due to illness and was forced to cancel several tour dates earlier in 2018. Back in 2017, the altitude forced the singer to halt a show. "I am sorry to have to cut the SLC show short tonight," he wrote on Twitter. "The altitude got to me. I am feeling better now & headed for lower ground."

Photo: Getty Images


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