George Michael charged with possession of drugs
Musician George Michael has been charged with drug possession and driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
The 47-year-old former Wham! frontman, whose real name is Georgios Panayiotou, reported to a police station in north London’s Camden Town today.
The incident in question occurred last month when the singer was arrested after driving his Range Rover into a branch of Snappy Snaps in Hampstead in the early hours of 4 July. Michael had been attending the London Gay Pride celebrations the previous night.
His arrest came not long after the end of a two-year driving ban incurred in 2008 after he was caught in possession of crack cocaine and marijuana.
In 2007 he was given 100 hours of community service after being found unconscious at the wheel of his car by police.
In an interview last year, Michael admitted smoking up to 25 marijuana-laced cigarettes a day, but said he had now cut down considerably, indulging in only seven or eight a day.
Scotland Yard issued a statement saying that Michael was released on police bail pending his appearance at Highbury and Islington Magistrates’ Court in north London on 24 August.
According to music-news.com, Michael once claimed that people wanted to see him as “tragic” but that he didn’t see his “cottaging and drug-taking” that way. “It’s just who I am”, he said.
