Lukas Nelson share details on how sobriety help him find inner peace

Lukas Nelson reflects on his decision to stop drinking and smoking marijuana around two years ago.

The country singer-songwriter, who is the son of country legend and known marijuana enthusiast Willie Nelson, says he was never the biggest fan of drinking anyway, but smoking weed was harder to quit.

In a conversation with the People magazine, he revealed that his decision to quit drugs was largely inspired by a desire to get some good sleep.

“Every time I took a drink or smoked weed, it just f----d my sleep up,” he said, adding that he needs to credit the fitness band that tracks exercise and sleep metrics. 

“Because I was just like, even one drink, it just screws it up so bad that I was like, ‘I’d rather wake up feeling good.’”

He continued, “I got clear with myself and I faced a lot of my fears and I realized they weren’t that scary after all,” he says.

“Now I can be clear with myself and not want to run away from myself, which is great. I get high from making the right decision every time. I’m addicted to that high now of saying no. It’s a great feeling.”

However, he had a difficult time to get rid of weed, since he conquered his fears with it.

“I got my pilot’s license, and did all these things that I wanted to do that when I was smoking a lot of weed, I never would’ve tried, because I’d have figured I probably shouldn’t do both those things at the same time,” he recalled.

Following him becoming sober, Nelson and his father will go up against one another at the 2026 Grammy Awards, as both have albums nominated in the Best Traditional Country Album category. 

His debut solo album, American Romance, came out earlier this year, while Willie is up for his album Oh What a Beautiful World.