WIDESPREAD PANIC CONCERT RESULTS IN 45 DRUG ARRESTS

Forty-five people among the 6,000 fans at the Widespread Panic concert at
the North Charleston Coliseum were arrested Sunday and charged with selling
and possessing a variety of illegal drugs, police said Monday.

The drugs included Ecstasy, powdered cocaine, speed, hashish, marijuana and
hallucinogenic mushrooms, said North Charleston Police Lt. Reggie Burgess.

Some fans at the counter-culture concert also were charged with selling
beer to minors during tailgate parties in the coliseum parking lot and
urinating in public, he said.

North Charleston police and State Law Enforcement Division agents mixed
with the audience and made the arrests beginning at 4 p.m. Sunday until the
concert ended around 12:45 a.m. Monday, Burgess said.

"We seized at least two cars and $7,000 in cash," Burgess said. Most of the
people arrested, ages 17 to 43, came from outside the Charleston area, he
said. Some live in Arkansas, Tennessee, Maryland, Georgia and Upstate South
Carolina, he said.

Charges ranged from possession with intent to distribute Ecstasy;
possession of Xanax, a controlled substance; possession of hallucinogenic
mushrooms and possession of cocaine, according to warrants.

Some fans of Widespread Panic, which performs a jazz-rock-country-blues
fusion, have followed the band on its current nationwide tour that began
Oct. 12 in Berkeley, Calif. The band is scheduled to perform next weekend
in Memphis.