Linda McCartney arrested in London for possession of marijuana

All our bags were thoroughly searched by police in Barbados after we were busted there. They told us they were clean but they obviously didn’t do a thorough job. Most of the time, Linda doesn’t know what’s in her bag anyway. It wouldn’t have been there if they’d done their job properly!

Paul McCartney, phone interview from his farm near Rye. From UPI, January 18, 1984.

From UPI, January 17, 1984:

LONDON — Former Beatle Paul McCartney’s wife, Linda, was arrested for possession of marijuana today on the couple’s arrival from Barbados, where they had been fined for having pot.

‘Linda McCartney was charged with possessing cannabis and will have to appear in court on Jan. 24,’ a spokesman for Scotland Yard said about the arrest at London’s Heathrow Airport. He would not specify how much marijuana Mrs. McCartney was carrying or where she had hidden it.

The American-born Mrs. McCartney was released on unconditional bail.

On his arrival in London with his wife and four children, Paul had appealed for the decriminalization of marijuana, saying it was less harmful than drinking alcohol, smoking cigarettes or sniffing glue.

‘Let’s get one thing straight, 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,’ McCartney told reporters at the airport.

‘I’d like to see it decriminalized. Let’s face it, this is something I like to do — having a drop of cannabis,’ McCartney said.

‘Really, we (himself and his wife) would both like to get off cannabis.’

McCartney, 41, and Linda, flew in from Barbados where the millionaire musician was fined $100 Monday on his second marijuana offense in four years.

The couple was arrested in Bridgetown, Barbados Sunday for possessing just under half an ounce of marijuana, police said. They pleaded guilty — four years to the day after McCartney was arrested at the Tokyo airport for traveling into Japan with half a pound of marijuana. The Jan. 16, 1980, arrest forced the cancellation of his tour of Japan and the star spent nine days in a Tokyo jail before being deported.

‘I’ve got absolutely no grudges,’ McCartney said at Heathrow of the Barbados incident. ‘It was a small amount of cannabis and I intended to use it but the police came to my place and I gave them 10 grams of cannabis. Linda had another small carton of cannabis in her handbag.’

McCartney, who was wearing a button on his black jacket that read ‘Leave me alone, I’m having a crisis,’ said he and his American-born wife ‘want to go back to Barbados but really we would both like to get off cannabis.

‘I think it’s very much better than drinking large loads of whiskey or rum or sniffing glue or other things people use to solve their problems,’ he said of marijuana. ‘I think it’s much less harmful.’

When asked by a reporter if he would give up smoking marijuana, McCartney said: ‘I will never smoke again but again I can’t really promise.

McCartney had promised he would give up smoking after he was arrested in Japan. […]

Let’s get one thing straight, 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

Paul McCartney, January 17, 1984, at London airport

From Express.co.uk, May 8, 2025:

An Antiques Roadshow expert was amazed by an “absolutely contemporaneous” cartoon depicting Sir Paul McCartney’s infamous cannabis bust. While attending a valuation at Crystal Palace Park, expert Hilary Kay encountered a woman who proudly displayed a “really great hand-drawn card“.

“This is my dad, and he drew cards for every event of our family’s life,” she conveyed to the astounded appraiser. “So there was one of those for every birthday, every Christmas, every Christening, anniversary, you name it. And I actually can’t remember which birthday this is, because there were so many of them.“

The woman also showed off a photograph of her father Pete drawing, expressing to Kay: “That’s the essence of my dad. He always drew with a board on his knee like that.“

She recounted how her father, who served as a senior customs officer at Heathrow Airport for more than three decades, became known for his creative wit through artwork regularly featured in Heathrow publications.

However, it was a specific drawing resting on the owner’s lap that truly captivated the expert’s attention.

Sharing the backstory, the guest revealed: “So this is a cartoon my dad drew that relates to a very specific event that I believed happened in January 1984. And the story is that Sir Paul McCartney and his wife Linda, at that time, came through Heathrow Airport on their way from Barbados. And in Barbados, they had been caught with drugs, with cannabis, I believe. So when they came back into Heathrow, my dad’s team received a tip-off essentially, saying they thought they were still carrying cannabis and so my dad’s team detained them. They were interviewed and while Sir Paul was in the interview room, my dad drew this cartoon of what was happening.“

Kay responded with disbelief: “You’re not serious! So this is absolutely contemporaneous?“, to which the guest confirmed “absolutely“.

The expert elaborated: “He was in one room being interviewed and your dad was drawing. And in turning it over, this is really nice, because it looks like a piece of HMRC note paper, doesn’t it?

“It’s got the reference there. So while he was drawing this, Paul McCartney was being interviewed, presumably with his wife.

“And then, how come Paul McCartney has signed it with the current number one at the time in January 1984, Play the Pipes of Peace? Your father, do you think he asked him to sign it?”

“I think he just showed him the cartoon, because that would have been my dad,” the guest revealed.

“He would have said ‘Hey, look, this is a bit of a tense moment, but this might make you laugh’, because that was my dad all over.” […]

From Express.co.uk, May 8, 2025

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