Richards: 'Quality of drugs is terrible now'

Veteran wildman Keith Richards claims the only reason he no longer takes drugs is because they are now of a low quality.

The Brown Sugar guitarist was a heroin addict for most of the 1970s and remains rock's most celebrated survivor.

However, the 62-year-old is less-than-impressed with contemporary narcotics.

He says: "I really think the quality's gone down.

"All they do is try and take the high out of everything. I don't like the way they're working on the brain area instead of just through the blood system.

"That's why I don't take them any more. And you're talking to a person who knows his drugs."

However, Richards admits to sampling morphine again in hospital, following brain surgery after he fell out of a tree while on holiday in Fiji in April.

He adds: "I don't take drugs unless I have to under great duress with my brain open.

"I've had a couple of weeks on morphine. I did try to squeeze the little bit extra out of the night nurse. She was very accommodating."