How Keith Richards' 1977 Toronto Heroin Bust Reshaped the Rolling Stones' Schedule

The February 1977 bust at Toronto’s Harbour Castle Hilton wasn’t just a legal nightmare for Keith Richards—it threw the entire Stones operation into a holding pattern for over a year. Richards was charged with possession of heroin and cocaine and, more terrifyingly, with trafficking (because of the sheer amount found). He faced a potential life sentence in Canada. The band had already started recording in Paris for what became Some Girls, but the sessions stalled as Richards shuttled between court dates and a methadone detox program.

To keep the project alive, the Stones shifted into a semi-remote workflow. Mick Jagger and producer Chris Kimsey worked on track skeletons in Paris while Richards, under supervised probation, was allowed to fly in for limited sessions. The legal cloud forced Richards to kick heroin—cold turkey during his court-ordered rehab—and that clean break changed his playing. He later said he rediscovered guitar parts he’d forgotten he’d recorded because his memory was clearer. The album finally dropped in June 1978, over a year later than initially planned. The 1978 US tour also doubled as a sort of probation-approved work permit: Canadian officials allowed Richards to tour only if he didn’t miss any U.S. court dates.

The bust effectively sidelined the Stones from touring in 1977 entirely—they had been planning a world tour, but it was scrapped. Richards’ legal saga dragged into October 1978