SINGER JAMES BROWN TO ENTER DRUG TREATMENT PROGRAM

AIKEN, S.C., March 17 (Reuters) - Singer James Brown, the "Godfather of
Soul," agreed to enter a drug treatment program after pleading no contest
last week to firearms charges, a South Carolina prosecutor said on Tuesday.
Brown, 64, was arrested Jan. 27 on misdemeanor marijuana possession and
firearms charges after he allegedly fired off guns at his Beech Island,
South Carolina home outside Augusta, Georgia while under the influence of
drugs. He was sentenced March 13 in an Aiken, South Carolina court to two
years in prison, with the sentence suspended pending payment of a $500 fine
and completion of a 90-day treatment program at a private hospital, lawyer
Lawrence Brown said.

"If he fails to complete the drug program within six months, then the
two-year sentence can be imposed," he said.

Brown in January spent six days in a Columbia, S.C. hospital, where his
agent said he was treated for an addiction to painkillers he had been
taking since he was injured doing a split on stage in Florida. The singer
said he was not addicted to pain killers, but smoked small amounts of
marijuana for medicinal purposes and kept weapons in his home for
protection.

Brown served three years in prison for a 1988 conviction on weapons and
assault charges.

"We have no comment," a woman answering the phone at James Brown
Enterprises said before ringing off.

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