If it seems like just yesterday that news broke about Snoop Dogg saying that he’d get President Obama high with his “aroma” in an effort to get marijuana legalized nationwide, that’s because it was. So it’s kind of comically ironic, I suppose, that today brings news of Snoop being arrested over the weekend on possession charges at a highway checkpoint near El Paso, Texas.
In the case of Snoop Dogg, the hip-hop star was done in by a real snoop dog, which sniffed out some marijuana cigarettes on his tour bus after a border agent smelled pot on the vehicle. A little more than two ounces of the drug were turned up, The A.P. said, and the rapper, whose real name is Calvin Broadus, was cited for possession of drug paraphernalia and released. Judge Becky Dean-Walker of Hudspeth County told The A.P. that these cases are usually resolved by a no-contest plea and a mailed-in fine of up to $500.
But wait…it gets better! What makes this even MORE comically ironic is that Snoop’s weed-smoking icon, Willie Nelson, was busted at the very same checkpoint a while back.
That wasn’t quite what happened when Mr. Nelson was stopped there on Nov. 26, 2010, and a similar search of his bus turned up about six ounces of marijuana. Initially, Kit Bramblett, a local prosecutor, said that Mr. Nelson could pay his debt to society with a small fine and by appearing in court to sing “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain.” But Judge Dean-Walker quickly shot down the proposed plea deal, calling it a joke that “got out of hand.” As recently as last July Mr. Bramblett and Judge Dean-Walker were still at odds about an appropriate penalty for Mr. Nelson; the final disposition of the case was not immediately clear.
I’m gonna go out on a limb here and recommend that weed-smoking musicians avoid playing anywhere near El Paso in the future.
(Pic via Snoop’s Twitter)