Rhys Ifans defends marijuana use

Rhys Ifans thinks marijuana is "one of life's little pleasures".

The 'Mr Nice' actor – who portrays his pal, drug smuggler Howard Marks, in the movie – admits he has indulged in the illegal substance with him in the past, and claims "everyone" enjoys smoking drug-laced cigarettes from time to time.

He said: "In the past we have had a little smoke, the odd toke. I didn’t inhale though. Howard still has a smoke. Everyone has a little smoke once in a while, you know. It's one of life's little pleasures."

Rhys is also passionate in his belief that cannabis should be decriminalised.

He explained: "I agree with Howard on this. You look at any culture and prohibition has invariably been unmitigated failure. It is just idiotic to criminalise any substance, I think. It needs to be controlled, managed.

“If you legalise something then you use the taxation from the sale of that drug top help people who become addicted to those substances. It is not going to go away. The way on drugs is being lost on a daily basis."

Rhys and Howard became friends 14 years ago and from that initial meeting the actor knew straight away he wanted to portray the story of his life.

He told FHM magazine: "At that time, that was a pipe dream, for want of a better turn of phrase. 14 years down the line we make the movie and a cousin of Howard's, who was backstage at that first gig, dug up some old video footage of that meeting, and you can actually see me and Howard shaking the deal."