CANNABIS CULTURE – Country music and pot community icon Willie Nelson has responded to his Friday arrest in Texas for marijuana possession by calling for the creation of a National “Teapot Party” to legalize marijuana.

In an email to popular pot website CelebStoner, the well-known singer wrote, “There’s the Tea Party. How about the Teapot Party? Our motto: We lean a little to the left.”

“Tax it, regulate it and legalize it,” Nelson continued. “And stop the border wars over drugs. Why should the drug lords make all the money? Thousands of lives will be saved.”

Nelson was arrested at a US Border Patrol checkpoint in Sierra Blanca, Texas on the morning of Friday, November 26 when officers found six ounces of marijuana on his tour bus. Border guards said they smelled the strong odor of marijuana emanating from the vehicle and ordered a search. Nelson claimed the pot was his and was arrested with three others.

Nelson could face up to two years in prison according to press reports.

The Grammy Award-winning music star set up a Facebook Page on Sunday morning, Willie Nelson’s Teapot Party, and it already has almost 8,000 ‘Likes’.

The 77-year-old Nelson has been a strong advocate for the legalization of marijuana, and has been arrested for cannabis at least twice before, including once in 1995 for a joint in his car ashtray, and again in 2006 with 1.5 pounds of pot (and three ounces of magic mushrooms) on his tour bus.

But would a Teapot Party get any support?

“If Willie gets behind something, you know it’s going to be big and in your face,” legendary comedian Tommy Chong told CelebStoner. “Any pot party is a wonderful idea. It’s about time we did something pro-active now. We’re close – we just need something to push it over the top, and with Willie leading the way we’re as good as gold.”

According to CelebStoner, NORML founder Keith Stroup also commented on the idea: “Smokers should never again vote for a candidate for public office who wants to treat us like criminals. If we would all do that, pro-pot candidates would begin picking up momentum, and before long, a majority of our elected officials would agree with the majority of the American public that responsible marijuana smokers should not be treated like criminals.”

Nelson is a long-time activist and co-founder of Farm Aid, a non-profit organization he started with Neil Young and John Mellencamp to “raise awareness about the loss of family farms and to raise funds to keep farm families on their land”. He is also the founder of the Willie Nelson Peace Research Institute, distributor of his own blend of biodiesel fuel called “BioWillie”, and there is even a campaign to award him the Nobel Peace Prize for his activism.

The Tea Party Movement is a loosely-defined libertarian conservative populist group of politicians, activists and citizens that has gained popularity in the US since 2008.

There is no word yet on how this may affect Nelson’s latest concert tour schedule.

Go to Willie Nelson’s Teapot Party Facebook Page and click “Like”!