Linda McCartney was arrested for marijuana possession on the night of 2 March 1975.
They left the Wally Heider Recording studio at around 11.30pm, with Paul McCartney driving a silver 1974 Lincoln Continental back to their rented Coldwater Canyon home. Shortly after midnight he took an illegal right turn and ran a red light at Santa Monica Boulevard and Midvale Avenue.
A police patrol car pulled them over, and while leaning into the car detected a strong smell of marijuana. Paul, Linda and their children Heather, Mary and Stella were all ordered out of the car while a search took place. A plastic bag containing 16 grams of grass was discovered underneath the passenger seat, along with the smouldering remains of a joint.
Paul had experienced difficulty entering the United States after the busts in Sweden and Scotland. This time Linda, a US citizen, took the rap, insisting that the drugs were hers alone. She was arrested on suspicion of possessing marijuana and taken to a police station in Division 91, while Paul took the children back to Coldwater Canyon.
Mr McCartney and his wife Linda and their three children were driving along Santa Monica Boulevard when the car went through a traffic light soon after midnight. While a patrolman was writing a traffic ticket, he said he smelt the odour of marijuana in the car and ordered the McCartneys out. He found a plastic bag containing a quantity of marijuana which Mrs McCartney had allegedly carried in her purse.
Linda was released on bail set at $500, and appeared a week later at Los Angeles Municipal Court where she was ordered to complete a six-month drug diversion programme. She complied with the ruling and the charges were dismissed in November, at a court hearing where her attorney Richard Hirsch revealed that she had undergone drug counselling from a psychiatrist in England. Paul, meanwhile, always insisted that the drugs had been planted by the LAPD.