Love Charged With Drug Possession

Rock star Courtney Love has been criminally charged with drug possession, the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office announced Tuesday.

Love faces two counts of possession of the painkillers hydrocodone and oxycodone. She is free on $20,000 bail.

The charges are punishable by a maximum of three years and eight months in prison. Authorities said she may be eligible for a drug treatment program.

The charges stem from an incident on Oct. 2. Police responding to a burglary call found Love, 39, standing outside a Wilshire-area home, where she allegedly admitted having broken the windows in an attempt to enter. Less than an hour later, Beverly Hills police and paramedics responded to a call for help at Love’s home. She was taken to a hospital for treatment.

Love, the widow of rock star Kurt Cobain, is the founder of the influential band Hole, and was a Golden Globe nominee for her role in the movie “The People vs. Larry Flynt.”

More recently, Love has gained a reputation as a campaigner for artists’ rights. She contended in court that Vivendi Universal Music Group had coerced her and other artists into signing away music rights. Love, who has continued to carve out a career as an actress, settled with Vivendi Universal last year.

Her name was among those mentioned in December when a Beverly Hills physician, Jules Lusman, was stripped of his medical license by the California Medical Board for prescribing addictive drugs on a cash-and-carry basis to celebrities.