Dionne Warwick Nailed On Pot Charge

Singer Dionne Warwick faces a misdemeanor charge following her arrest at Miami International Airport for allegedly carrying 11 suspected marijuana cigarettes inside an empty lipstick container.

Warwick, 61, was charged Sunday with possession of less than 5 grams of marijuana, punishable by up to one year in prison if convicted. She signed an affidavit promising to appear in court on an unspecified date and was released.

Warwick was scheduled to fly to Los Angeles when baggage screeners noticed the lipstick container in her carry-on bag at about 7:30 a.m. She missed the flight, but was able to take a later plane to Los Angeles, police said.

The singer was in the Miami area to receive an award Saturday.

Agent Ruth Bowen, answering the telephone phone at Warwick's Miami Beach home, said if her client actually did have any drugs on her, it would be "for medicinal purposes."

Bowen said the singer is suffering from glaucoma.

Her sister, Dee Dee Warwick, said she was shocked by the news.

"I'm sure Dionne doesn't use drugs," she told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel from her home in New Jersey. "I don't understand how that occurred. I think someone put that on her."

The five-time Grammy award winner and cousin to Whitney Houston became famous in the 1960s for such hits as "Walk On By" and "I Say A Little Prayer."

More recently she was a spokeswoman for the "Psychic Friends Network."