1967: TWO ROLLING STONES ON DRUGS CHARGES

Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of rock band the Rolling Stones have
appeared before magistrates in Chichester, West Sussex, charged with drug
offences. The magistrates heard that after a tip-off, police raided Mr
Richards's mansion in Redlands Road, West Wittering on the evening of
Sunday 12 February during a party.

They searched the house, interviewed eight men and one woman and found
various tablets and substances that were later examined by the Metropolitan
Police Laboratory.

During the police raid, officers took away a number of items including
Chinese joss sticks suspected of masking the sweet smell of cannabis resin
and pudding basins holding cigarette ash.

Stones' lead singer Mr Jagger, 22, has been accused of illegally possessing
four tablets containing amphetamine sulphate and methylamphetamine
hydrochloride.

Guitarist Mr Richards, 23, is charged with allowing his house to be used
for the purpose of smoking cannabis.

Both Mr Jagger and Mr Richards pleaded not guilty and were released on bail
to appear for trial at West Sussex Quarter Sessions on 22 June.

Outside the court, a crowd of young fans were waiting to see the stars but
the two men were driven away in a chauffeur-driven car from the back of the
building.

A third man, 29-year-old Robert Fraser, a gallery owner has been charged
with possession of heroine and eight capsules of methylamphetamine
hydrochloride.

SIDEBAR

In Context

During the widely publicised trial, the prosecution said the only woman at
the house - singer Marianne Faithful and Jagger's girlfriend - was dressed
in nothing but a fur rug that she let slip occasionally. They claimed her
lack of inhibition was a sign that she was under the influence of cannabis.

On 29 June, the judge sentenced Jagger to three months for possession of
amphetamines and Richards to one year in jail for allowing cannabis to be
smoked in his home.

But in August the sentences - considered very harsh for first offences -
were quashed on appeal.

The Stones continued to dabble in drugs and break the law as befitted their
wild image. Richards at one point became a heroin addict. But by the turn
of the century the band had become an institution as the longest-running
rock group in history.

Mick Jagger was awarded a knighthood in the Queen's Birthday Honours list
in June 2002.