On This Day in 1972, Paul McCartney and His Wife Were Arrested During Their Wings Tour

On this very day in 1972, Paul McCartney and his wife, Linda McCartney, were arrested in Sweden. The arrest took place backstage (though some reports at the time claim that the couple was pulled over in a vehicle while driving back to their hotel) after their concert in Gothenburg. The couple was arrested for being in possession of six ounces of m*rijuana, which was apparently sent to them in the mail by someone who worked in McCartney’s home office.

Videos by American Songwriter

After paying a fine of about $1,200 between the two of them, the couple was released. Later, McCartney would joke that the arrest was “good publicity” for their tour with Wings at the time.

Paul McCartney Got Into Trouble Often for His Hashish Habits

The former Beatle got into trouble quite a few times through the years for m*rijuana possession. He would get into trouble in Scotland for possessing the substance just a year after the arrest in Sweden. In 1975, his house in Sussex was raided by police, and he was fined for possession again.

The most infamous of arrests has to be Paul McCartney’s unexpected incarceration in Japan in 1980. That year, he was arrested in a Tokyo airport for smuggling almost a half-pound of m*rijuana in his bag. McCartney thought it was no big deal and wanted to stock up, as he knew he wouldn’t be able to purchase the controlled substance in the country. Japan’s laws are extremely strict about drugs, and McCartney faced several years in prison. Instead, he was only jailed for about nine days and was later deported. He got quite lucky, actually. But, the whole thing caused Wings to lose millions and ruin their Japanese tour, which contributed to the end of the band.

In 1984, McCartney and his wife Linda were arrested for possession of m*rijuana upon leaving Barbados. There, they had been fined for possessing drugs, though the drugs in question were mainly found in Linda’s bag. It would be McCartney’s second drug-related offense in just four years.

Paul McCartney was starting to get sick of getting in trouble for indulging in what he considered to be a harmless substance.

“Let’s get one thing straight,” McCartney told reporters after arriving back in London. “Whatever you think I’ve done, this substance cannabis is a whole lot less harmful than rum punch, whiskey, nicotine, and glue, all of which are perfectly legal.”

Photo by Kenneth Jonasson/Expressen/TT/Shutterstock