Paul McCartney Said His Drug Arrest Was ‘Very Stupid’ and Embarrassing, but Also Scary

In 1980, Paul McCartney found that his celebrity wouldn’t help him avoid arrest when he brought drugs into Japan. The musician arrived in Tokyo with half a pound of marijuana in his bag, an amount that could’ve have landed him in prison for seven years. While McCartney ultimately avoided more than a few days of jail time, he said the experience was frightening. Still, he admitted it was stupid to have even been in the situation. 

Paul McCartney found himself under arrest for drug possession in 1980

In 1980, McCartney flew to Tokyo in preparation for a multiple-city concert tour with his band Wings. When he arrived at Tokyo’s Narita International Airport, a customs agent discovered half a pound of marijuana in his bag. While he said it was for his personal use, the amount meant that he was at risk for a smuggling charge and up to seven years in prison.

“We were about to fly to Japan and I knew I wouldn’t be able to get anything to smoke over there,” McCartney said in 2004, per History. “This stuff was too good to flush down the toilet, so I thought I’d take it with me.”

Paul McCartney said the drug arrest was both embarrassing and frightening 

When reflecting on the incident, he said he’d been stupid to try to bring drugs to Japan.

“It was very stupid!” he said, per The Beatles Diary Volume Two: After the Breakup. “We’d been in America and the attitude to drugs over there is very different and it led me to take a real casual approach. Most people taking that kind of thing into the country would give it to the roadies, that’s the common practice. That just shows that I wasn’t really thinking about it. I was taking my opinion of it instead of the legal opinion of it, and I just didn’t really think much about it, you know till the fellow pulled it out of the suitcase and he looked more embarrassed than me!”

Still, he said that the prospect of jail time was frightening. A conversation with the British Consul didn’t help.

“He said, ‘Well Paul, there’s a fellow in here who had a lot less than you had and he’s done three months already, so you could have seven years hard labor to look forward to!’ I thought ‘What?’ and my jaw dropped,” McCartney said. “You’re worried about how long it’s gonna last; you’re not just worried about the immediate conditions. It’s not Bridge On The River Kwai you know … it’s not that bad. The immediate worry during the time is what’s going to happen to Linda and the kids. Those are the main worrying things.”

He spent nine days in jail

Ultimately, McCartney spent only nine days in jail and admitted that his level of celebrity helped him avoid more time. The jail time meant that, for the first and only time in his marriage, McCartney had to spend nights away from his wife, Linda. 

“I am privileged to have been her lover for thirty years, and in all that time, except for one enforced absence, we never spent a single night apart,” McCartney said, per the book Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now by Barry Miles. “When people asked why, we would say, ‘What for?'”