cannabisnews.com: Forgotten Bag Leads to Arrest of Rock Star










  Forgotten Bag Leads to Arrest of Rock Star

Posted by CN Staff on March 06, 2004 at 18:22:49 PT
By Michael Wilson 
Source: New York Times  

David Crosby, the veteran rock musician who has long spoken of overcoming the drug abuse that led to his imprisonment and liver transplant, was arrested early yesterday in a Times Square hotel after an employee found marijuana, a loaded pistol and two knives in his bag, the police said. Mr. Crosby and the band he is currently touring with, CPR, had performed at the B. B. King Blues Club and Grill on 42nd Street on Thursday night, and in Wayne, N.J., on Friday night.
He had checked out of his room at the DoubleTree Suites Hotel on Broadway, but left behind a suitcase, and an employee searching it for identification found about an ounce of marijuana, rolling papers, a hunting knife, a folding knife and a .45-caliber handgun, the police said. Mr. Crosby, 62, was arrested at 1 a.m. yesterday when he returned to pick up the bag. He spent the next 12 hours in a cell in Lower Manhattan, appearing in court shortly before 1 p.m., his long white hair falling over a white T-shirt that said, "A man in his truck is a beautiful thing." He did not speak. Justice Robert H. Straus of State Supreme Court assigned a $3,500 bail and ordered Mr. Crosby to return to court May 19. Mr. Crosby posted the bail and left the courthouse without comment, as did his lawyer, Daniel Parker.He was charged with criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree, a felony, and three lesser charges: two administrative code violations for possessing a knife with a blade longer than four inches and possession of ammunition, described as about 26 bullets; and unlawful possession of marijuana, which falls below a misdemeanor in its severity.It was unclear yesterday what impact the arrest would have on his band's tour. CPR was scheduled to appear last night in Glenside, Pa., tonight in Annapolis, Md., and later this week in Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York and New Jersey. In 1985, Mr. Crosby was jailed for a year in Texas for cocaine and gun possession. At the time, he had a $1,000-a-day cocaine and heroin habit, he has said, and has publicly thanked the judge who sentenced him. In an interview last June, Mr. Crosby spoke in favor of legalizing marijuana. Source: New York Times (NY)Author:   Michael WilsonPublished: March 7, 2004Copyright: 2004 The New York Times Co.Contact: letters nytimes.com Website: http://www.nytimes.com/Related Articles & Web Site:David Crosby and CPRhttp://crosbycpr.com/David Crosby Arrested on Marijuana, Gun Charges http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18455.shtmlCannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml 

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Comment #8 posted by Granny61 on March 09, 2004 at 05:53:22 PT:
another reason why weed won't be legalized
It's people like Crosby that make the fight of legalization impossible. People then put " smokers" into a general category of being irresponsible. It only takes one person doing something stupid to ruin it for the rest of us !! I just think if you are going to be a smoker then be responsible about it. It's stories that you hear on TV about smokers doing something stupid such as this that ruins it for the rest of us. 
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Comment #7 posted by Patrick on March 07, 2004 at 10:56:26 PT
MaxFlowers & EJ
You are right.Not only should any charges be dropped, Crosby should sue the hotel.Rock stars need guns or bodyguards If they can't afford body guards they should carry guns, because they have stalkers after them half the time, and the other half of the time, thives have their eyes on everything they own.
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Comment #6 posted by Max Flowers on March 07, 2004 at 10:37:35 PT
I'll tell you what doesn't add up...
...the idea that any hotel employee would need to open it up to search for identification. That's bullshit. They knew who the last guest was, they knew the room was clean before he checked in, so they knew whose bag it was. Someone was going through it looking for money, and when they saw the gun, knives and pot, they changed the plan. They--DoubleTree--are the guilty party in this. They should have put the bag in the office, UNOPENED, and contacted Crosby or just waited for him to realize he forgot it and come back.Not only should any charges be dropped, Crosby should sue the hotel.
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Comment #5 posted by rchandar on March 07, 2004 at 10:27:53 PT:
illegal search
yeah, goneposthole is right. even the police would have had no right to search the bag, there wasn't any kind of "probable cause" indicating that contraband was in it. That means the search was illegal and the charges should be dropped.if it WAS the police, still they would have to have "probable cause," which appears lacking here to say the least. People shouldn't go to jail for carrying weapons in a country where it's a constitutional right, i don't think. I'm against guns in general but that's the constitution; I don't think there's any big reason to think David Crosby should go to jail at all."tearing yourself away from me now,
you are free,
and I am crying.
This does not mean, I don't love you,
I do,
that's forever,
for always..."--David Crosby
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Comment #4 posted by FoM on March 07, 2004 at 10:27:06 PT
EJ I Agree
Lokk what happened to John Lennon and George Harrison. 
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Comment #3 posted by E_Johnson on March 07, 2004 at 10:16:36 PT
Rock stars need guns or bodyguards
If they can't afford body guards they should carry guns, because they have stalkers after them half the time, and the other half of the time, thives have their eyes on everything they own.Everyone made such a big deal about Courtney Love missing a court appearance last month -- it was because there was a stalker coming to her court appearances and he was able to jump into her car the previous time she left the courthouse.She needed to arrange for a professional bodyguard the next time. She has her own male Joyce Nalepka who follows her everywhere she goes shouting out her sins to the world.David Crosby probably has one or two himself. He's been around so long. People get weird about fame. Queen Latifah got caught with weed and a gun in her car. She was carjacked. That's why she was carrying a gun. Because she's a natural target because she's famous and everyone knows she has things worth stealing and could be held for ransom.
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Comment #2 posted by goneposthole on March 07, 2004 at 08:02:48 PT
the employee
Had the bag had something like one milliion dollars in cash, there would be no story.Who gave the employee permission to rifle through someone's baggage? The owner should be able to retrieve it without having had its contents revealed. In my most humble opinion.How would anyone like it if someone searches your baggage for no cause?Something isn't adding up here.
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on March 06, 2004 at 18:27:32 PT

Rolling Stone Magazine: David Crosby
David Crosby -- MusicianWhen I was in prison, probably eighty-five percent of the people were there for drugs in one way or another. Either they got caught with drugs, or they got caught selling drugs, or they got caught doing something while they were on drugs, or they got caught doing something terrible for the money to get drugs. So I don't think prison is a valid solution for any kind of drug use or addiction - either one. Addiction is a very tough thing; I've been addicted, and I know what it's like. It requires a lot of treatment - long-term treatment - a lot more treatment than the insurance providers are willing to offer.I think they should just legalize marijuana. Put it this way - they sell liquor in every corner store in the United States. And booze is much worse for you than marijuana. Much worse. Drastically worse. Orders of magnitude worse. So it doesn't make any sense - they should just legalize it.Personally, I think we should send some very serious lads from the Army down to the fields where coca is being grown. You've got to understand that we know where all the coca plants are in the Western Hemisphere because all plants have different infrared signatures, and our satellites can locate exactly where they are. We also know, in the four countries where these plants are, what soil and what altitude they're in. We know all that. So send somebody down, take it out of the ground and say, "Look: Plant coffee; we'll buy it directly from you, we'll pay you three times as much because we won't go through a middleman, and you'll be fine. Plant coca again, and we'll be back again next year and somebody will get hurt. This is not all right anymore. Game over. Too many lives ruined, too many families shredded, too much wreckage. We're going to take it seriously now." David Crosby and CPR: http://crosbycpr.com/http://www.rollingstone.com/news/newsarticle.asp?nid=14338
Crosby on Drugs from Rolling Stone
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