Paul McCartney says Bob Dylan gave The Beatles weed so potent it made them feel like the ceiling was 'coming down'

• Paul McCartney wrote about his experience smoking weed for the first time.
• McCartney said musician Bob Dylan introduced the drug to The Beatles in a New York hotel room.

Paul McCartney broke down the time he and The Beatles were introduced to weed for the first time in a New York hotel room by fellow musician Bob Dylan in an excerpt of his forthcoming memoir published in The Times of London.

"​​What happened is that we were in a hotel suite, maybe in New York around the summer of 1964, and Bob Dylan turned up with his roadie. He'd just released 'Another Side of Bob Dylan,'" McCartney begins the story. "We were just drinking, as usual, having a little party. We'd ordered drinks from room service - scotch and Coke and French wine were our thing back then - and Bob had disappeared into a back room."

McCartney later wrote that Ringo also disappeared and returned to the hotel suite "looking a bit strange."

"He said, 'I've just been with Bob, and he's got some pot,' or whatever you called it then," McCartney recalls. "And we said, 'Oh, what's it like?' and he said, 'Well, the ceiling is kind of moving; it's sort of coming down.' And that was enough. After Ringo said that, the other three of us all leapt into the back room where Dylan was, and he gave us a puff on the joint."

McCartney continued to write that he and his bandmates "kept puffing away" after their first hit because they didn't feel any reaction, which ultimately enhanced their experience.

"Suddenly it was working. And we were giggling, laughing at each other. I remember George trying to get away, and I was sort of running after him. It was hilarious, like a cartoon chase. We thought, 'Wow, this is pretty amazing, this stuff.' And so it became part of our repertoire from then on."

McCartney concluded by explaining how he and the band acquired their own weed thereafter.

"To tell you the truth, it just showed up," he said. "There were certain people you could get it from. You just had to know who had some."

Throughout the years, McCartney has been one of the most prominent weed smokers. In the 1980s, for example, he was notably arrested while touring in Japan after customs officials discovered nearly half a pound of marijuana in his luggage. McCartney spent 10 nights in a Japanese prison before being released and deported from the country.

In 2015, however, McCartney told The Mirror that he has stopped smoking because of his role as a grandfather.

"I don't do it anymore. Why? The truth is I don't really want to set an example to my kids and grandkids. It's now a parent thing," he said. "Back then I was just some guy around London having a ball, and the kids were little so I'd just try and keep it out of their faces."