|
Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
|
|
Norway: Winehouse back on the road after night in Norwegian cell
Hannah Fletcher Times On-Line
Saturday 20 Oct 2007 Amy Winehouse resumed her European tour yesterday after spending the night in a Norwegian police station for possession of cannabis. The singer, whose career has been dogged by accounts of drink and drugs abuse, was arrested with her husband at an hotel room in Bergen. Police were called after staff at the Radisson SAS hotel smelt the drug coming from the room occupied by Winehouse and Blake Fielder-Civil. Another man identified by police as Alexander Foden was also held overnight. They joined a growing roll call of foreigners who have fallen victim to strong antidrug laws in Scandinavia. After 12 hours all three were released from custody after paying a fine. Winehouse and her husband paid a €500 (£350) fine between them. Foden paid £240. Police said that they had found seven grams (0.25oz) of marijuana. Lars Morthen Lothe, a prosecuting lawyer based at the police station, said: “Amy Winehouse and two others were arrested in their hotel room late yesterday night, brought into the police station and issued with fines. We are finished with the case as far as we are concerned.” Under Norwegian law possession of any drug is illegal and “the use of small amounts of narcotics will normally result in a fine, and appear on the criminal record of the guilty party”. Serious violations, however, are punishable by up to ten years in jail. It is unclear whether such a conviction will prevent Winehouse from playing concerts in the United States, where her latest album has entered the Top Ten. The incident happened as Winehouse took a day off from her tour, and her management insisted earlier yesterday that a concert due to take place in Bergen last night would go ahead. Frank Nes, promotor of the Bergen Live concert, said: “We spoke to her management this morning and there isn’t anything that would indicate she won’t sing tonight.” The incident is a further setback for the award-winning singer, who has cancelled several concerts this year after being admitted to hospital with what her record company described as severe exhaustion. Winehouse, who married Fielder-Civil in May, was said to have come close to death after taking cocaine, Ecstasy, ketamine and marijuana. Her father-in-law, Giles Fielder-Civil, urged fans to boycott Winehouse’s music until she and her husband seek treatment for alleged drug abuse. In August she was seen covered in scratches and blood, running from the Sanderson Hotel in London in the early hours of the morning after a fight with Fielder-Civil. Winehouse’s latest European tour is supposed to be her comeback tour. But she had a shaky start in Berlin on Monday night. She tripped and staggered as she walked on stage, prompting speculation that she was drunk. Winehouse has another 11 shows scheduled across Europe in the next two weeks. Other stars who have come to grief over tough drug legislation in Scandinavia are the US rapper Snoop Dogg, who was arrested by Swedish police in March for suspected drug use. The Babyshambles singer Pete Doherty was arrested and fined in Sweden in June last year after police found cocaine in his blood. http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article2698064.ece
After you have finished reading this article you can click here to go back.
|
This page was created by the Cannabis Campaigners' Guide.
Feel free to link to this page!