GRAMMY WINNER ARRESTED FOR POT POSSESSION AT AIRPORT

Dionne Warwick, the five-time Grammy award winner and former pitchwoman for
the Psychic Friends Network, was arrested Sunday after screeners at Miami
International Airport found 11 marijuana joints in a silver lipstick vial
in her carry on.

Warwick, 61, was charged with possession of fewer than five grams of
marijuana. Instead of taking the one-time Solid Gold host away in
handcuffs, police allowed her to sign an affidavit promising to appear in
court.

"It's medicinal," said Ruth Bowen, a theatrical agent and friend of
Warwick's who answered the door at a Miami Beach condo where Warwick told
police she had been staying.

Bowen explained that the singer uses marijuana to treat glaucoma. "She's
not a drug abuser," she said.

Many advocates of legalizing marijuana for medical use say the drug helps
relieve the elevated eye pressure caused by the disease. Marijuana also has
been touted as an effective treatment for pain by AIDS and cancer patients.

A spokesperson for Warwick could not be reached for comment.

Warwick was in South Florida to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award at the
American Red Ribbon Awards ceremony, which benefits Broward County's
largest HIV/AIDS service organization, Community Healthcare CenterOne. The
Saturday evening event at the Westin Diplomat Hotel in Hollywood recognized
leaders in the fight against AIDS.

The award has been presented in past years to Liza Minnelli, Phil Donahue,
Carol Channing and Arthur Ashe. A spokeswoman for the event declined to
comment.

The incident Sunday began about 7:30 a.m. when officers were summoned to a
screening point at Concourse D.

Airport officials said there is no special policy for screening celebrities
- -- everyone goes through the same search process.

Baggage screeners told officers they had found a "suspicious item" inside
Warwick's bag. Police said they found 11 joints tucked in Warwick's
lipstick container.

The singer missed her plane -- American Airlines Flight 906 to Los Angeles.
She left on a later plane, Bowen said.

Warwick, a gospel singer in her teens, originally planned to be a
public-school music teacher. But an early collaboration with Burt Bacharach
and Hal David catapulted her to fame.

Her first hit, Don't Make Me Over, inched to the No. 21 position on the
Billboard chart in 1962. She continued having Top 40 hits throughout the
next three decades. They included Walk on By, I Say A Little Prayer, Do You
Know the Way to San Jose?, A House is Not a Home, I'll Never Fall In Love
Again, Alfie, Deja Vu and Heartbreaker.

Warwick has a long history of charitable work. Her Grammy-winning single
That's What Friends are For -- a collaboration with Stevie Wonder, Elton
John and Gladys Knight -- raised millions of dollars for AIDS research.

She is currently working on an effort to create a set of history books that
tell about the African-American experience.

She last performed at a large venue in South Florida on Feb. 21, when she
appeared at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts in Fort Lauderdale.

Younger fans know her as the spokeswoman for the Psychic Friends Network
and as the cousin of pop diva Whitney Houston.

Houston had a similar run-in with airport security in Hawaii in January
2000, when security guards at Keahole-Kona International Airport searched
her handbag and found marijuana in two plastic baggies and three partially
smoked joints.

Houston's charge was dropped a year later. Warwick, charged with a
first-degree misdemeanor, could face up to 364 days in jail if convicted.

Herald staff writer Luisa Yanez contributed to this report.