George Michael has a joint on TV

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LONDON (Reuters) - Pop star George Michael said smoking cannabis kept him "sane and happy" and appeared to light up a joint during an interview on Britain's ITV news channel, ITV said on Friday.

The comments have landed the former Wham! frontman in hot water with mental health groups and drug charities concerned about the message Michael's comments will send to young people.

"All drugs have potential to harm and that is the principal message we need to get across," William Butler, spokesman for the Addaction drugs charity, told London's Evening Standard.

A spokeswoman for the 43-year-old singer, who recently embarked on a comeback tour, said he had no comment to make in reaction to the latest controversy.

ITV, which will screen the interview on Oct. 31, said Michael "sparked up" backstage at a gig in Madrid while talking to the channel's South Bank Show.

"George defends his dope habit, saying it keeps him sane and happy. But he admits it's not very healthy. He says it can have a 'terrible, terrible effect'," ITV said on its Web site.

Michael also denies that his life is out of control, despite a spate of recent run-ins with the law.

He was arrested and cautioned earlier this month after he was found slumped over the wheel of his car in London and in possession of cannabis. In February, Michael was arrested on suspicion of possessing drugs, admitting it had been his "own stupid fault".

The musician has sold more than 80 million records throughout his career, and kicked off his first tour in 15 years with a concert in Barcelona in September.

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From the (London) Evening Standard (pages 1 & 7; online version)

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Quote:

Dopey George has a joint on TV
20.10.06

Astonishing photographs today showed George Michael openly smoking a cannabis joint during a television interview.

The 43-year-old star, who has twice been cautioned for possessing the drug after being found slumped in his car, lit up backstage in Madrid and defended his use of it.

Michael said of his fondness for cannabis, which is still illegal in Britain: "This is the only drug I've ever thought worth taking ...

"This stuff keeps me sane and happy. I could write without it ... if I were sane and happy. I'd say it's a great drug - but obviously it's not very healthy. You can't afford to smoke it if you've got anything to do."

Michael's comments, reproduced in today's Daily Mirror, are bound to upset many parents and anti-cannabis campaigners.

They come as fears grow over the use of superstrong cannabis such as skunk by increasing numbers of young people.

Skunk has been linked by police to a rise in street violence and burglaries in parts of London.

But during the in-depth TV interview, to be screened on the South Bank Show on 31 October, Michael said cannabis was "very good for creative people".

However, he added a note of caution, stating: "It can be a terrible, terrible drug."

"You've got to be in the right position to take it. You've got to have achieved most of your ambitions because it chills you out to such a degree that you could lose your ambitions."

Michael, who last month was cautioned for possession of the drug after he was found slumped at the wheel of his car near his north London home, said he had dabbled with other drugs, but regretted using all of them except cannabis.

He said: " There's not another drug in my life that I'm glad I took, but grass.

"I think my life might be somewhere else if I'd chosen another avenue. Alcohol for instance . Christ if I drank as much as I smoked. My God, I'd be like Keith Richards."

The interview was filmed over the past two months as Michael prepared for his first world tour in 15 years.

At the start of the programmea message is flashed on screen, reading: "George Michael wishes to inform viewers that the has never tested positive for drink or drugs whilst driving."

As well as referring to the most recent incident this is also a reference to an incident in February, when he was cautioned when found asleep at the wheel of his car near Hyde Park.

Two months later he hit three parked cars and in July he was caught having sex on Hampstead Heath.

Of this Michael tells interviewer Melvyn Bragg: "The public think I'm a man on the brink of a breakdown because I fell asleep in my car, I hit a parked car and because I cruise as a gay man." But he insisted that far from losing control of his life he "feels good". "I'm happy with the music I'm making and I ' m still loaded," he added.

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What's the old saying in the PR world?
Talk about me good or talk about me bad...just talk about me.

He's a jerk and way too hungry for publicity. That or he's smoking far too much weed and simply losing his mind.

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"The comments have landed the former Wham! frontman in hot water with mental health groups and drug charities concerned about the message Michael's comments will send to young people. "

Why is he responsible for what anyone of any age does or will think? This is the sort of thing that really bugs me. So he's a public figure. So what. Does this mean he can't be himself? Why is he being held up as someone to look up to? That's a cross he shouldn't have to bear.

Are young people this stupid that they will pick out his comments and then go and buy some pot? Who is afraid that this will happen?

Why aren't people afraid that young people will all join the army when they see soldiers on tv?

Or that they'll all want to get fat when they see Cracker on tv?

Good Lord.

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A couple of questions....

when he was found asleep behind the wheel, was the car moving, engine running? Or did he stop, turn off the car and go to sleep? It says he was near his home. What's that? 1 block, 1 mile, 5 miles? That's all near my home depending on the context. If he was driving under the influence and pulled off to sleep instead of contuinuing to drive, that sounds like a better choice to me.

Hitting 3 parked cars....What were the circumstances? Did he hit 3 parked cars individually, minutes apart from the other, or in one accident? Did he hit one car, spin and demolish 2 others? What was the extent of the damage to all the cars? Were any or all of them dings or fender benders?

Crusising gay guys? Well, you know, that's what a lot of gay guys do. That doesn't mean your lifes out of control, it means he wanted to have sex that night. A lot of straight people cruise straight people. Straight people have sex outside too sometimes.

Until I have more concrete evidence, I'm not going to say one way or the other. It's very easy for the press to manipulate words and situations. If I were famous, I could be walking out of the restroom with the sniffles, and be called a coke head.

Being famous makes you an easy target.

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This sentence really bothes me:

"Skunk has been linked by police to a rise in street violence and burglaries in parts of London. "

What the hell is that saying? Lots of things have been 'linked' to other things with a negative bias, ie. eggs to high cholesterol... does that mean eggs are bad? Well, not in moderation, they're not. Maybe the rise in street violence and burglaries is due, in part, to other factors not mentioned.

I am not advocating smoking pot, by the way, but I think if you want to do it, you should be able to. I think it's ridiculous that it's illegal.

Then again, I also think it's crazy not to legalize and monitor prostitution. It's certainly not going to go away; why not make it safe and clean? And taxable? Smile

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I'd like a joint right now. I've had a very shitty day. Today was a complete waste of make-up.

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I agree with Mame. Bring on the pot and the hookers!

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eoe wrote:

What's the old saying in the PR world?
Talk about me good or talk about me bad...just talk about me.

He's a jerk and way too hungry for publicity. That or he's smoking far too much weed and simply losing his mind.

smoking too much weed? WTF are you talking about?

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You know what I'm talking about, Bear. Rolling Eyes

There comes a point when you don't make sense anymore. You're irrational and doing really dumb ****. You're a menace to yourself and the people around you because you're being an idiot. You no longer smoke to get high, you just smoke all the time just because. THAT'S too much weed.

Sorry about your day, Heeven. At least it's over, right?

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Not having smoked the super strong stuff, I dont know how it affects you . How does weed link to the rise in violence? Is the super strong stuff likely to make you anti-social? Thats not the dooby-dust I recall.

Now I can see falling asleep in a car. Ive done that with weed and even had a cop wake me up once to have me get moving. However, at that time I was just drunk and passed out and the cop laughed when I told him that I realized I had too much to drink and decided to pull over. I pulled off in the Stockton off- ramp of I-5. He was cool in that He didnt write me up for anything, he just ledme down to a strip mall parking lot and I went back to sleep till I sobered up. That way nobody'd crash into me and wed both go up in flames. .

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I've never heard of anyone getting violent after smoking. But, in my day, if you got skunkweed, you wanted to go postal on the bum that sold it to you.

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eoe - I totally see your point. I have been a total idiot and out of control quite a few times in my past. Maybe you know alot more than I do (which is next to nothing) about GM and any trouble he's been in. Has he been in other pickles lately?

I just think when the media get hold of anything, it comes out 10 times worse than what happened in reality. I imagine a 15 second tiff that ended with a shrug with a significant other would turn into a near breakup with the gossip mongers.

What did GM do specifically that made him such a big out of control fool? That is, keeping in mind that all we know is what is written in the story, and also keeping in mind my prior post and possibilities.

There were times I wish I'd had the good sense to pull over and pass out while not moving. Re the sex, that's no more or less than what goes on every moment.

I do think the hitting the cars was uncool, especially if there were people around, but it honestly doesn't sound any worse than someone I watched weaving in and out of rush hour traffic, stone sober, a half an hour ago.

Pot and violence. Yeah, they go hand in hand. Like angel dust and cuddling.

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Chai Tea wrote:

Pot and violence. Yeah, they go hand in hand. Like angel dust and cuddling.

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I wonder if he was high when he was wacking off in front of that cop in a public toilet.

If so, I think we have our definition of "too much weed."

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Some people are just "idiots". I don't think it's fair to blame weed for that. I have known quite a few highly functional pot-heads and also quite a few dumbsh*ts who wouldn't recognize the smell if you blew it in their face.

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Give Im a break. Hes the last left over cartoon from the 80's.

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kickycan wrote:

I wonder if he was high when he was wacking off in front of that cop in a public toilet.

If so, I think we have our definition of "too much weed."

Geez, forgot about that... but he didn't really wack off in front of a cop, did he? And if so, he was undercover, right? It was in a park in L.A. wasn't it? Don't recall the particulars tho.

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echi wrote:

Some people are just "idiots". I don't think it's fair to blame weed for that. I have known quite a few highly functional pot-heads and also quite a few dumbsh*ts who wouldn't recognize the smell if you blew it in their face.

But when the dumbshit starts smoking alot of weed...taaadaaa. George Michaels.

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George Michael has a joint on TV

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