British singer Joss Stone is currently preparing for the release of a new album and, in what the local media deems a desperate bid for attention and for publicity for the material, she antagonized anti-drug campaigners with a series of statements on weed and heavier drugs. Speaking to Star Magazine, the singer compared smoking a joint with having a drink, only with fewer risks than the former.

Stone says smoking weed is something that everybody does, even those who say they don’t and who are obviously lying. She, for one, feels the drug has been getting a bad rap in the media for reasons that she can’t even begin to fathom, and believes alcohol consumption is much more dangerous because it leads to physical violence when in large quantities. Moreover, the singer doesn’t exclude using heavier drugs in the future, as she thinks they’re “fun” too.

“I smoke weed, but I don’t think it’s really a drug. It’s more of a herb. I don’t regret saying that at all. […] It’s like having a drink. Weed has been given this evil stamp, but how is it dangerous? It’s going to make you laugh your [expletive] off? You might go to sleep? I think alcohol is much more harmful. People beat the [expletive] out of each other on alcohol. But I don’t smoke weed all day long. I live in Devon and hardly ever go to clubs. When I do, I’ll drink three or four beers then move on to a vodka. I don’t want to take all those horrible drugs. Although some sound fun, so I might dabble now and then!” Stone admits in her most recent interview.

This is, as fans must know, not the first time that Stone uses drug talk to bring her upcoming album to media attention. It’s only days that she recommended her fans to smoke some weed, put on her music and only then be able to properly enjoy it. Otherwise, it was no fun, she said at the time. Now too, Joss is aware her comments will get her plenty of bashing from the media, but she’s weirdly unapologetic about making them and believing what she believes.

“I’m very honest and I’ve been punished for that over and over again. Every time I say what I think I get [expletive] for it. But that won’t stop me from being an honest person.” Stone says in the same interview, referring to instances in the past when her “big mouth” got her into hot waters. David Raynes of the National Drugs Prevention Alliance, though, doesn’t see her comments as honesty, saying she forgets she’s been put up on a pedestal. As a public figure, she should at least consider the impact her words can have on her more impressionable fans, Raynes believes.