Armie Hammer's Pot Bust and Five More Famous Texas Tokers

Apparently all those wide open spaces have a strange effect on celebrities

By Natalie Finn Jan 26, 2012 3:00 AMTags
Armie Hammer Michael Caulfield/Getty Images

Armie Hammer may not be squeaky clean.

The J. Edgar hottie was detained for marijuana possession back on Nov. 20 in the west Texas town of Sierra Blanca after drug-sniffing dogs sussed out a medicinal-pot brownie, three medicinal marijuana cookies and a small amount (0.02 ounces) of plain old weed.

Since E! News has confirmed that he was toting less than the 4 ounces required to prosecute for a felony, Hammer just spent a day in Hudspeth County Jail and paid a $1,000 bond without facing further punishment.

"It's much ado about nothing," Hammer's attorney, Kent Schaffer, told E! News.

Maybe so, but it got us thinking—what is it about Texas?! Here are five more memorable celeb pot busts that have gone down in the Lone Star State:

Chelsea Lauren/WireImage

1. Matthew McConaughey: Before the Lincoln Lawyer star became an engaged father of two, he enjoyed his dazed and confused days of bachelorhood. The Texas native was busted for cannabis possession and resisting arrest and spent nine hours in jail back in 1999 after cops were called to his Austin home by neighbors who couldn't sleep for all that naked bongo playing! The drug charge was ultimately dropped and McConaughey copped to disturbing the peace.

Jesse Grant/Getty Images

2. Snoop Dogg: You remember when hell didn't freeze over, right? Hudspeth County Sheriff's Department deputies allegedly turned up rolled joints in a prescription bottle and roughly 0.13 pounds of pot when they stopped the rapper at a  border patrol checkpoint earlier this month in—you're not alone, Armie!—Sierra Blanca. Snoop was cited and released without being taken into custody, but he's got to go back for court.

Jay West/WireImage

3. Willie Nelson: In another case of hell remaining toasty, the country-music legend was busted in late 2010 after authorities near El Paso found about 6 ounces of marijuana on his tour bus. Nelson posted $2,500 bail and a prosecutor jokingly suggested he pay a $100 fine and sing "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain" in court. Luckily, the judge had a sense of humor, if not a yen to see Nelson perform in a small, intimate venue, and she OK'd the fine. Maybe feeling the heat from the hullabaloo, however, the judge later blocked the plea deal and the case is still being, er, hashed out.

4. Chace Crawford: The Gossip Girl heartthrob was nabbed outside a bar in his hometown of Plano when police found a misdemeanor-size amount of weed on him in the form of an unlit joint in June 2010. The case was dismissed in September after Crawford's attorney presented proof that his client had kept it clean for a year and completed 80 hours of community service at a hospital and a church.

Jay West / Wireimge; Mike Roach/Zuffa LLC/Getty Images

5. Paul Wall & Baby Bash: The rappers (born Paul Michael Slayton and Ronald Ray Bryant, respectively) were busted in El Paso and charged in September with possessing less than 2 ounces of pot, hence the lack of big-dealness. But Wall enjoyed the history lesson, tweeting upon their release from custody, "Fresh out the El Paso County jail wit @BabyBash @BIGGROY in the same tank they held Willie Nelson/Johnny Cash."

Surely all of the above are glad that they didn't get stuck in Folsom Prison.

—Reporting by Baker Machado