If it’s not always on his mind, cannabis has got to be top of mind for music legend and entrepreneur Willie Nelson, who announced his event company Luck Presents will host a three-day virtual event at the end of April to educate, celebrate — and one day, legalize — cannabis.
Luck Summit: Planting the Seed will be hosted by Colorado Americana artist Nathaniel Rateliff, who has lent his name to Willie’s Reserve vape products. Through a busy program filled with speakers and entertainment geared toward decriminalization and reducing stigma, the event is a benefit for HeadCount’s Cannabis Voter Project, which registers voters who care about cannabis policy.
Target: Texas
Luck co-founder Ellee Fletcher Durniak told Rolling Stone that the Austin-held event is designed to target Texans specifically.
“Essentially, we at Luck want to make sure Texas isn’t the last state to legalize and we understand that in order to work toward that goal, we need to help build the bridge toward legalization,” they said. “State-wide and country-wide legalization won’t be the effort of one person, it’ll be the effort of all of us who are passionate about the plant. We are excited to put in the work.”
Changing hearts and minds
While it’s not clear how involved Nelson will be in the actual programming, he had strong words for religious Americans – like many in Texas – who are anti-legalization for religious reasons.
“I think people need to be educated to the fact that marijuana is not a drug,” he said in a statement on the event page. “Marijuana is an herb and a flower. God put it here. If he put it here and he wants it to grow, what gives the government the right to say that God is wrong?”
