The Lovin' Spoonful's drug bust

In May 1966, Zal Yanovsky and Steve Boone of the Canadian-American folk-rock band the Lovin' Spoonful were arrested in San Francisco, California, for possessing one ounce (28 g) of marijuana. The arrest marked the first time 1960s pop musicians were busted for possessing illegal drugs.

In 1966, the Spoonful were at the height of their success, and Yanovsky, a Canadian, worried that a drug conviction would lead to his deportation and a breakup of the band. To avoid this eventuality, he and Boone cooperated with law enforcement, revealing their source to an undercover agent at a party a week later. Their drug source, Bill Loughborough, was arrested in September 1966. He initiated a campaign to boycott the band, the effectiveness of which is disputed by later commentators. In January 1968, Loughborough was sentenced to three months in county jail followed by three years of probation.

By early 1967, Yanovsky and Boone's cooperation was reported by the West Coast's burgeoning underground rock press, souring the Spoonful's reputation within the counterculture and generating tensions within the band. Amid creative disagreements, Yanovsky's bandmates fired him in May 1967. The band subsequently saw diminished commercial success, and they disbanded in June 1968.