Willie Nelson Stops Smoking Marijuana For Health Reasons

AUSTIN, TX — We may have just achieved porcine flight, but this is but a side note. The real news is that country music icon Willie Nelson has quit smoking marijuana, according to reports.

The singer has made no secret of his penchant for cannabis over the years, and even launched an eponymous line of pot dubbed Willie's Reserve recently. In April, he went so far as to credit marijuana with saving his life given its status as alternative to an erstwhile three-pack-a-day cigarette habit. And his wife in 2017 launched a line of cannabis-suffused chocolates.

But after battling pneumonia and collapsing a lung in past years, Nelson emerged from the fog with the force of epiphany as it related to cigarette smoking as told to Rolling Stone: "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."

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Now, marijuana is off the table too. In an interview with KSAT-TV in San Antonio, the 86-year-old singer and composer said breathing issues forced him to quit the habit. The impetus to quit grew stronger after he had to bow out of string of concerts earlier this year as a result of health issues related to breathing.

"Singing out there for an hour is a good workout," Nelson told the news station. "Your lungs are the biggest muscle you've got. 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."

Nelson is so revered in Austin — where he was arguably the driving force in establishing the city as a live music mecca — that a statue in his honor welcomes visitors to the Austin City Limits studios downtown, off Willie Nelson Boulevard no less. What's more, the city has hosted his "Fourth Of July Picnic" holiday event several times over the years, further cementing his looming presence in the capital city.

Fervent wishes for good health sent to Austin's favorite son, naturally. But we're now on the lookout for those aforementioned flying pigs, waiting for a press advisory from the underworld alerting to sudden ice formations and reconsidering the "12 of never" as a scheduling option.

Photo by Tony Cantú/Patch staff.