--- title: Willie Nelson: How LSD Cemented His Relationship With Pot description: "My love affair with pot became a long-term marriage," the musician writes in his new memoir, It's a Long Story: My Life canonical: https://time.com/3843900/willie-nelsons-pot-lsd/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-05-06T17:53:08.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T06:52:22.265Z article:section: Ideas og:title: How LSD Cemented Willie Nelson's Relationship With Pot og:description: "Pot and I got along beautifully," the musician writes in his new memoir og:url: https://time.com/3843900/willie-nelsons-pot-lsd/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How LSD Cemented Willie Nelson's Relationship With Pot twitter:description: "Pot and I got along beautifully," the musician writes in his new memoir twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # How LSD Cemented Willie Nelson's Relationship With Pot by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley May 6, 2015 5:53 PM UTC by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley May 6, 2015 5:53 PM UTC It’s no secret that Willie Nelson is fond of weed: he [recently](http://time.com/3829422/willie-nelson-marijuana-brand/) announced he’ll market his own brand of recreational marijuana, “Willie’s Reserve.” But pot is not the only drug the “On the Road Again” singer has tried over the years. In his new memoir, [_It’s a Long Story: My Life_](http://www.amazon.com/dp/0316403555/?tag=timecom-20), out this week, he recounts an experiment with LSD in the ’70s. “Could I expand my mind?” he asked himself while deciding to take the plunge. “Could I lose my ego?” He may not have lost his ego, but he did lose his grasp on reality. Nelson accidentally took triple the amount his “hippie friend” recommended just two hours before a concert, and had to perform while tripping. --- > “” --- Once offstage, he felt even more panicky, but realized he had to relax as much as possible because his trip worsened with anxiety. When it was over, he decided he would never drop acid again. --- > “” --- If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3843900/willie-nelsons-pot-lsd/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3843900/willie-nelsons-pot-lsd/"},"headline":"How LSD Cemented Willie Nelson's Relationship With Pot","datePublished":"2015-05-06T17:53:08.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T06:52:22.265Z","description":"\"My love affair with pot became a long-term marriage,\" the musician writes in his new memoir","url":"https://time.com/3843900/willie-nelsons-pot-lsd/","keywords":["Books","Marijuana","Music","Memoir","LSD"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/books/","name":"Books"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3843900/willie-nelsons-pot-lsd/","name":"How LSD Cemented Willie Nelson's Relationship With Pot"}}]}] ```