When Paul McCartney Was Busted for Growing Weed on His Farm
Paul McCartney really is "mother nature's son," and he's got the arrest record to prove it.
In March 1973, Scottish police made a discovery on the McCartney farm. It seems the former Beatle was growing marijuana plants on his property. An arrest was made, which led to a conviction for "illegal cultivation" and with it, a $240 fine.
At the time of the arrest, McCartney stated that a fan had given him the seeds, and he didn't know what would blossom from them Due to the arrest, McCartney was denied a visa by the U.S. government. That ban was ultimately lifted in December 1973.
This was not McCartney's first -- or last -- brush with drug laws. According to The Paul McCartney Encyclopedia, the previous year he had been fined in Sweden for possession of marijuana, and in 1975, he was arrested once again for the "sweet leaf," this time in Los Angeles.
Most famous, perhaps, was his bust at the Tokyo airport in 1980, when customs officers discovered cannabis tucked away in his luggage. In 1984, he was in handcuffs in Barbados, again for possession of the "wildwood weed."
"Cannabis is less harmful than rum punch, whiskey, nicotine and glue, all of which are perfectly legal," McCartney has argued in the past. "I don't think I was doing anyone any harm whatsoever."
In 2015, McCartney revealed that he had stopped smoking pot in order to be a better influence on his children and grandchildren. “Instead of smoking a spliff I’ll now have a glass of red wine or a nice margarita," he said. "The last time I smoked was a long time ago.”