Willie Nelson To Receive 2021 Clio Cannabis Lifetime Achievement Award

Willie Nelson, the iconic musician, activist and longtime marijuana advocate, will receive the 2021 Clio Cannabis Lifetime Achievement Award on Dec. 7, reported Billboard.

"Long before cannabis gained mainstream acceptance, Nelson made the case that its dangers were greatly exaggerated and its benefits were scarcely mentioned," wrote Billboard.

Launched in 2019, Clio Cannabis celebrates creators at the forefront of cannabis marketing and communications. The award is an offshoot of the famed Clio Awards started in 1959 to celebrate creative excellence in advertising. 

Columbia Care CCHWF, one of the largest multi-state operators in the cannabis industry, is the title sponsor of the event.

This honor is one of the many lifetime achievement awards Nelson has received, including one from the Recording Academy in 1999, another from the Country Music Association in 2012 (which named the award in his honor), induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1993, a Kennedy Center Honor in 1998 and the Library of Congress’ Gershwin Prize in 2015.

But many who've followed his career and his strong stance on cannabis legalization and social equity believe that the Clio Cannabis Lifetime Award is the most appropriate for Willie Nelson. 

“As the cannabis industry continues its rapid growth, we are tasked with ensuring the Clio Cannabis Awards evolve at the same pace so that we may properly honor those at the forefront of creating change and driving the industry forward,” Michael Kauffman, executive director of Clio Cannabis said in a statement. 

“With four game-changing specialty award recipients and an exclusive streaming partner to help us reach a wider audience, we’re taking the 2021 Clio Cannabis Awards higher than ever before,” Kauffman added.

Nelson, 88, was selected to receive the award for his decades-long reputation as an advocate for the plant’s healing powers and for elevating cannabis in the mainstream and innovating in the business space.

Nelson's team is responsible for introducing marijuana and hemp-based wellness products like Willie’s Reserve and Willie’s Remedy in addition to launching a new cannabis conference called the Luck Summit: Planting the Seed.

Additional honorees at the Clio Awards include Mary Pryor, co-founder of Cannaclusive, a civil society organization created to facilitate fair representation of minority cannabis consumers. Pryor is focused on inclusive marketing and business advocacy and facilitating fair representation of minority cannabis consumers.