20/10/2007 00:00:00
Norway: Winehouse back on the road after night in Norwegian cell
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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
Source:
http://www.ukcia.org/news/shownewsarticle.php?articleid=12923
Author:
Times On-Line via UKCIA
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