George Michael is Once Again Arrested in a Public Toilet

George Michael Apologizes After Drug Bust

George Michael

September 22, 2008 , 12:30 PM ET

George Michael apologized to fans yesterday (Sept. 21) and promised to "sort himself out" after his arrest and caution by police for possession of drugs.

Michael, 45, was arrested in a public toilet in the north London suburb of Hampstead on Friday afternoon after he was found in possession of crack cocaine and cannabis, according to the Sunday People newspaper.

The Metropolitan Police confirmed the arrest of a 45-year-old man in north London and his caution for possession of class A and class C drugs.

"I want to apologize to my fans for screwing up again, and to promise them I'll sort myself out," said Michael in a statement issued through his publicist. "And to say sorry to everybody else, just for boring them."

Michael has had several brushes with the law over his recreational drug use. In 2006 he was found slumped over the wheel of his car in London and later admitted driving while unfit due to drugs. He was banned from driving for two years and sentenced to 100 hours of community service.

In an interview on BBC radio last year, Michael discussed his drug problems, saying he was aware that he smoked too much marijuana and was trying to reduce his consumption.

"In a strange way I've spent the last 15 to 20 years trying to derail my own career, but it never seems to suffer," he said. "I suffer like crazy. I've suffered bereavements and public humiliations, but my career always seems to right itself like a plastic duck in the bath."

Earlier this year he signed up for a no-holds-barred autobiography which he intends to write entirely by himself.

Michael ended a nearly two-year world tour in August this year with two performances in London's Earls Court. He has hinted that he may not tour again.

[Billboard]

Cheech & Chong "light up" for new comedy tour

Two of the most famous pot smokers during of the 1970s, Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong, unveiled plans on Wednesday for their first comedy tour in more than 25 years since their acrimonious split.

"Cheech & Chong: Light Up America ..." will hit 22 cities in the United States starting with Philadelphia on September 12 and ending in Denver, Colorado, on December 20. In between they will play Los Angeles, Miami, Washington, D.C. and other places.

"This is a moment that I've been looking forward to for many, many years because we have such a legacy and history together that we couldn't escape it, even if we tried," Chong told reporters at a news conference to announce the tour.

Cheech and Chong were one of the most successful comedy teams of the 1970s with hit movies and chart-topping records based on their brand of marijuana-influenced humor.

They were potheads who appealed to a youth generation steeped in personal freedom spawned by 1960s-era hippies. At the time, American kids were thirsting for humor that mirrored their lives, experiences and pop culture.


Marin said their humor about doing stupid things while being stoned on marijuana should still appeal to today's youth, as well as Cheech & Chong's older fans.

"We've had the younger audience all along. Every time they get to that certain age, they go through that Cheech & Chong period of watching the movies, listening to the records. So, it's almost like a right of passage," Marin said.

He joked that the pair had considered calling the show the "Womb to Tomb" tour, to highlight the broad age range of fans.

Cheech, 62, and Chong, 70, gained notoriety in nightclubs in the Los Angeles area in the 1970s and released their first album, "Cheech and Chong," in 1971. "Los Cochinos" in 1973 won the Grammy award that year for best comedy album.

In 1978 their first movie, "Up in Smoke," proved to be a blockbuster, raking in more than $100 million at box offices.

They performed together onstage for the last time in 1981, but continued to make movies and records. Their album "Get Out of My Room" in 1985 included the hit song "Born in East L.A." which parodied Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the U.S.A."

The pair went their own ways in a well-publicized and bitter split following the release of that album.

Marin carved out a career as a television actor in shows such as "Nash Bridges" and "Judging Amy." Chong also did a lot of TV work, including appearances on "That '70s Show."

Chong has long advocated the legalization of marijuana, and in 2003 was arrested and later imprisoned for selling drug paraphernalia.

[Reuters]

Truly Sad

Reason TV has a story about Owen Beck, a 17-year-old high school kid from California who got bone cancer and had to get his leg amputated. The medicine Owen was taking was making him very sick and and lost a lot of weight, so his parents decided to try medical marijuana. The marijuana greatly helped Owen, easing his pain and nausea.

The owner of the dispensary, Charlie Lynch, often gave the marijuana to Owen without charging his parents. But the local Sheriff (who doesn't like the fact that medical marijuana is legal in his town and the state of California) called the DEA. They raided the dispensary and arrested Lynch. He's now under house arrest, attached to an extension cord for 2 hours a day, and is facing 100 years in prison.

[Boing Boing]

UPDATE: The public is encouraged to attend the trial of Charlie Lynch:
Monday, July 28, 1:30 pm
U.S. District Court
Courtroom 10
312 North Spring Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012

The trial resumes at 10:45 am on Monday, and--although the schedule is subject to change--9:00 am Tuesday and Wednesday.

Stay tuned to reason.tv for updates throughout the week.

For more information, visit Friends of Charles C. Lynch.

Should medical marijuana be kept from minors at all costs? Why is it that pharmacists can dispense amphetamines without getting busted, but legal operators who dispense medical marijuana face prison time? Why do armed federal agents persist in raiding California?

With its sun, surf and small town atmosphere, California's San Luis Obispo County is a good place to grow up. Seventeen-year-old Owen Beck played football and soccer for a local high school, but one day his thoughts abruptly turned away from sports and school. Doctors told Owen he had bone cancer, and would have to begin chemotherapy right away.

The young athlete suffered another blow—doctors would have to amputate his leg to try to keep the cancer from spreading. Chemotherapy attacked Owen's cancer and his body, leaving him bald, gaunt, and vomiting the food he needed to recover. The amputation introduced Owen to a bizarre, new agony called phantom pain, and although doctors gave him powerful medication, nothing helped.

But might a new kind of pharmacy offer new hope? A medical marijuana dispensary had recently opened in the nearby city of Morro Bay. More than a decade earlier, California voters legalized medical marijuana and Morro Bay's mayor and Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the dispensary, and its owner Charlie Lynch.

Owen's parents knew the idea of giving medical marijuana to a 17-year-old strikes many people as scandalous. Local Sheriff Pat Hedges even asserts that allowing medical marijuana is "not in the best interest of a community that prides itself on providing a healthy, family environment."

But the Becks weren't concerned about what other people thought; they were focused on helping their son. So with a written doctor recommendation in hand, they purchased medical marijuana for their teenage son. The new medication eased Owen's pain and nausea like nothing else had, and the Becks grew fond of Charlie Lynch, who would sometimes refuse payment because, says Steve Beck, "He was just a compassionate kind of a guy."

But one day, Owen's life took another abrupt turn. Federal agents and local sheriff deputies raided Charlie Lynch's dispensary, and seized nearly everything inside, including Owen's medicine. "He had a prescription from a doctor at Stanford, and they took his stuff!" says Debbie Beck. Federal agents cuffed Lynch, and put him behind bars. Even though state and local laws allow for it, medical marijuana is still illegal under federal law. And because he had clients like Owen who were under age 21, Charlie Lynch faces heightened penalties. In California the average first-degree murder serves 20 years behind bars; Charlie Lynch could face a sentence as long as 100 years in prison.

The trial of Charlie Lynch begins this July.

Barack Obama has stated he will not use federal officers to raid dispensaries if he is elected. Will he reverse his stand before the election?
Visit Predictify to vote.

Raiding California: Medical Marijuana and Minors (Reason TV)

Resource for all you globe-trotting potheads

From Economist.com - The costliest place in the world to get high is Japan, according to the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime's annual World Drug Report. The street price of a gram of cannabis weed was $58.30 in 2005, over twice as much as in the next most expensive nation, Australia. Americans pay nearly twice as much as Canadians. Similar disparities occur in Europe. Although the Netherlands is the only Western country where cannabis can be bought legally, punters pay more there than in Germany or France. Prices are cheapest in developing countries, where enforcement is less strict.

Source [Economist]

Marijuana prohibition costs US taxpayers nearly $42 billion dollars per year

Marijuana prohibition costs US taxpayers nearly $42 billion dollars per year in criminal justice costs and in lost tax revenues, according to an economic analysis recently released.

According to the study, "Lost Taxes and Other Costs of Marijuana Laws," law enforcement spends $10.7 billion annually to arrest and prosecute marijuana offenders. This amount comprises nearly six percent of America’s total criminal justice expenditures.

Pot’s criminalization also artificially raises the plant’s retail price and diverts billions of dollars into the black market economy, the study finds. According to the report, Americans spend some $113 billion dollars annually to consume an estimated 31.1 million pounds of pot. By criminalizing this market, the study estimates that the government loses more than $30 billion per year in tax revenue.

"The market in marijuana in the United States is illicit, illegal, and as such it diverts capital away from the channels of the licit or legal economy, especially the channels from which local, state, and the federal government collect tax revenue," the study concludes. "If [the billions of dollars America’s currently spend on marijuana] were spent on legal commodities … those economic transactions would produce billions in tax revenues for local, state, and the federal government."

According to data released last week by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), police arrested a record 829,625 persons for marijuana violations in 2006. Of those arrested, 738,915 Americans (89 percent) were charged with marijuana possession.

Entire Report (173 kb pdf)

Source [NORML]