Former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney, promoted to the British establishment this year with a knighthood, on Thursday called for the legalization of cannabis.

"I support decriminalization (of cannabis). People are smoking pot anyway and to make them criminal is wrong," he told the New Statesman magazine.He said it was pointless to fill jails with people who smoked cannabis because this was likely to turn them into criminals.

McCartney's comments angered anti-drugs campaigners, who said he had ignored the long-term risks involved in taking the drug.

Medical research shows that cannabis users can develop a psychological dependence on the drug as well as a range of physical problems.

A spokeswoman for the British Home Office said McCartney's comments were "unhelpful."

Citing his own experience of being arrested for possessing marijuana in Japan in 1980, McCartney said he learned nothing from it.

"When I was jailed in Japan for having pot there was no attempt at rehabilitation. They just stuck me in a box for nine days."

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