John Lennon Turned to Paul McCartney ‘for Shelter’ After His Drug Bust

In 1968, John Lennon rushed to Paul McCartney’s home as headlines announced his arrest for drug possession. Lennon and Yoko Ono had been staying in a flat they rented from Ringo Starr, and McCartney’s home provided an escape from the media circus. Lennon and Ono’s lawyer was surprised he turned to his bandmate in his time of need.

John Lennon went to Paul McCartney’s house after his 1968 drug bust

In 1968, Lennon and Ono were in bed when they heard a knock at their door. When they opened it, they found a group of police officers outside the home. In the ensuing search of the home, they found drugs.

“I was got for possession,” Lennon said in The Beatles Anthology. “It wasn’t on my body, but it was in the house. Possession means you could be a pusher. You can just see John Lennon pushing drugs for a living!”

Lennon and Ono hired attorney Martin Polden to represent them. He first met the couple not at their apartment, but at McCartney’s home. Fans were swarming the house, but it provided shelter for the couple.

“It’s interesting that John went to Paul’s house for shelter because Paul hated Yoko, you know, through all that,” Polden said in the book All You Need Is Love: The Beatles In Their Own Words by Peter Brown and Steven Gaines. “But I guess in the time of need … there was nowhere else to go.”

Paul McCartney said he felt very sad for John Lennon and Yoko Ono

While Polden thought McCartney seemed to enjoy Lennon’s discomfort, he said he felt terrible for his bandmate. He knew that he and most of the people he knew could have easily found themselves in a similar situation.

“Being busted was something that we were all at risk of at that time — us and half of London; half of the world, in fact,” he said. “That’s what people were doing then instead of going out and getting crazy with drink — people were sitting at home until very late with wine and cannabis. We didn’t really feel it was very wrong.”

As a result, McCartney felt the arrest was an unnecessary stress on Lennon, Ono, and The Beatles as a whole.

“I still believe alcohol is worse for you and has led to many more deaths — I’ve never heard of a cannabis-related death (although people won’t like to hear that),” he said. “So what happened to John and Yoko was shocking, and we felt sad for them. And it was a nuisance.”

The arrest caused further legal problems for him over the years

Lennon walked away with just a fine, but the arrest caused further problems for years to come. When he and Ono moved to The United States, they became involved in the anti-war movement. The Nixon administration moved to deport the couple, citing their drug arrest as the reason.

“They’re still playing that attitude that, you know, we’re treating you like this because of this law,” Lennon told Rolling Stone in 1975. “Sure, the law exists. And so do all the Nazis here and the drug dealers that are not American born and all the killers that are allowed in here. They’re still pretending that they’re doing it on the strict letter of the law.”

The legal battle dragged on for years, but Lennon and Ono eventually emerged victorious.