London, March 31 (IANS) Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards does not want to completely stop doing drugs and says he smokes marijuana 'all the time'.

Contactmusic.com reports that Richards was addicted to heroin in the 70s, when the band was at the peak of fame. He has had numerous bad experiences and came close to death. But all this has not caused him to turn away from drugs.

He said: 'People thought I was going to die. I never did - as you can see. The drugs? Oh yeah, they were great.

'Drugs now... it's a very dodgy subject. I smoke my head off. I smoke weed all the d*** time. There, you've got it. But that's my benign weed. That's all I take, that's all I do. But I do smoke and I've got some really good hash.'

Richards is not happy with the authorities who did not allow him to smoke in public places in Britain, Ireland, California and New York.

He added: 'This worldwide smoking ban is draconian, socially, politically-correct b******t. They'll get over it. It's like prohibition - they tried to stop booze once. Ha! Look what happened. It ruined America.'