April 23, 2008 12:45

John Lennon drugs video leads to court case

Video shows ex-Beatle taking multiple drugs

A controversial video of John Lennon is the subject of a court case starting in Boston on April 30.

The footage recorded in February 1970 shows Lennon smoking marijuana, writing songs and discussing putting LSD in then President Richard Nixon's tea.

The court will decide whether the video should be made public.

Lennon is shown composing 'Remember' and 'Mind Games', and discusses his drug use.

The case sees Yoko Ono pitted against Massachusetts-based World Wide Video, which claims ownership of nine hours of raw footage of the couple that was filmed just weeks before the Beatles broke up in 1970.

World Wide is a consortium of Beatles collectors that wants to release the black-and-white footage as a two-hour film, '3 Days In The Life'.

Rolling Stone magazine has called it "awesome John Lennon footage you might never see".

Yoko Ono's lawyers are asserting copyright ownership of the videotapes, whereas World Wide has filed a suit against Ono for copyright infringement, reports the BBC.