Jimmy Buffett Claims That He Didn't Have Ecstasy In France

10/11/06 6:30pm

Jimmy Buffett was fined 300 euros ($427 Canadian) last week after French customs officials claimed that they found more than 100 tablets of ecstasy in the singer's suitcase as he was about to board a rented private jet at the Toulon-Hyeres International Airport. But the Parrothead leader claims in a message on his website that the authorities misidentified a bottle of the vitamin B supplement Foltx for the heart rate-accelerating party drug.

"I found my bag and opened it up and they went right for a little pouch which contained my prescription medicines which was sitting on top of my clothes, not the most secretive part of my bag," Buffett wrote. "I don't know about you, but at a few months away from turning sixty, I carry a few prescriptions, including a B vitamin supplement, called Foltx."

Foltx tablets have a heart on them, as do many E tablets, which Buffett said caused the confusion. He insists that he's never taken ecstasy and wouldn't be able to tell the difference between it and Excedrin PM.

"My vices these days consist of boat drinks, beer, wine and the occasional hot fudge sundae. I hadn't even opened the bottle, because my secretary had made a mistake and had sent the wrong prescription. I don't use Foltx any more.

"I knew Foltx was a vitamin supplement not a love drug. I paid the fine, gathered my bags and my friends and as soon as they opened that door, I walked, rather rapidly towards my plane and flew out."

When news of Buffett's problems with the law first surfaced, a local French newspaper called his fine "a small amount for a man who makes $70 million a year."

If Buffett had been discovered with 100 tabs of Ecstasy in the U.S., he likely would have faced a prison sentence and a fine of up to $100,000 if he had been convicted.

This isn't the first time that Mr. Margaritaville has been the centre of a drug controversy. Ten years ago, a boat that he was on with Bono near the coast of Jamaica was fired on by police who mistook them for narcotics traffickers.

Buffett's new Take The Weather With You album was released on Tuesday.