SIR Mick Jagger has defended the drug use captured in 40-year-old footage of the Rolling Stones in a new documentary, insisting "excess was the order of the day".
The band has come under fire for shocking moments in the new film, Stones In Exile, which depicts the rockers' hedonistic lifestyles while recording their 1972 album Exile on Main Street.
In one scene, the eight-year-old son of a backing musician can be seen telling the filmmakers that his job is to roll marijuana cigarettes for whoever wants them.
But Jagger insists the group's behaviour was normal at the time.
He tells Britain's Sunday Telegraph, "You don't see anything that bad (in the documentary), do you? Lots of children running around rolling joints. And, you know, people making music. It's pretty much what I imagine most people think being in a rock band is all about. But yes... excess was the order of the day. But you get excesses now in consumption of other things like consumer goods."
Jagger hit the headlines after speaking about drugs earlier this week (18May10) - he called for government officials to legalise marijuana on a British island to see if the measure would prevent drug-related violence.