Russell Brand has called for a reform of drug laws following Philip Seymour Hoffman's death.
The Oscar-winning actor tragically died in his New York City apartment over the weekend after experiencing a relapse, and Brand - who himself has battled drug addiction and alcoholism in the past - believes he is a "victim" of laws that "criminalise drug addicts".
The 38-year-old comedian-turned-political activist believes addiction is a "mental illness" and should be treated as a medical condition in order to prevent tragedies such as Hoffman's death from a suspected heroin overdose
In an article written for The Guardian newspaper, he stated: "Addiction is a mental illness around which there is a great deal of confusion, which is hugely exacerbated by the laws that criminalise drug addicts.
"If drugs are illegal people who use drugs are criminals. We have set our moral compass on this erroneous premise, and we have strayed so far off course that the landscape we now inhabit provides us with no solutions and greatly increases the problem.
"People are going to use drugs; no self-respecting drug addict is even remotely deterred by prohibition."
Brand believes the 'Capote' actor - who was allegedly found with a syringe of heroin in his arm at his West Village home in New York City - may not have succumbed to his addiction if there was more help on offer.
The 'Get Him to the Greek' star said: "Philip Seymour Hoffman's death is a reminder, though, that addiction is indiscriminate. That it is sad, irrational and hard to understand. Would Hoffman have died if this disease were not so enmeshed in stigma? If we weren't invited to believe that people who suffer from addiction deserve to suffer? Would he have OD'd if drugs were regulated, controlled and professionally administered?"

Enrique Iglesias has never dabbled in drugs.
The 'Hero' hitmaker claims he's never been tempted to try an illegal substance, despite being surrounded by people in the industry that regularly snort cocaine.
He said: "I was never tempted by drugs. The amount of times I've been asked, 'You don't do coke? But you're in music.
"You really don't do coke?'
"I don't like sticking stuff up my nose. Get me a drink, get me a rum. I drink, I'm a social drinker but I feel like I can control it.
"There are friends of mine who go out at the weekend and do a lot of cocaine and do any drug and be perfectly fine throughout the week.
"But some others can't do that. I need my eight hours' sleep, that's for sure."
Meanwhile, the 38-year-old singer believes Justin Bieber,19 - who was arrested last month for driving under the influence (DUI), driving with an expired license and resisting arrest in Miami - is just being young and experimenting with life.
However, the hunky star insists the troubled teen needs to surround himself with supportive people before things get too far.
He explained to the Daily Mirror newspaper: "It's common in this business that there are just, 'yes, yes' people and you need people that are not afraid of telling you 'no'.
"You need to be told you made a mistake. That's crucial.
"You can't believe your own hype because in showbusiness there are moments where that can happen."

Allison Williams would love to be a mother.
The 26-year-old actress is keen to set herself up with a career that she can balance equally with motherhood because she doesn't want to sacrifice precious time with her children for her job.
Speaking in the March issue of US Glamour magazine, she said: "My goal is to create a career I can walk away from and become a mom. I'd love to be a mom -- and not have to bring my kids into my trailer . . . Or a balance [of both]. But you gotta call it on the fly to a certain extent."
However, the 'Girls' star - who plays uptight Marnie Michaels in the hit HBO show - isn't ready to throw her acting career away for something more family-friendly just yet as she has a list of character she'd like to play first.
She said recently: "I want to play a villain. I want to play a romantic heroine. I want to play someone who's on heroin. There's nothing I don't want to do. I want to play a guy at some point. I'll gain 100lbs, I'll cut my hair off, I'll do whatever. I'm not precious about any of it."

Paul Bettany will star as the Vision in 'The Avengers: Age Of Ultron'. The 42-year-old actor will join an all-star cast which includes Robert Downey Jr (Iron Man), Chris Hemsworth's (Thor), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Mark Ruffalo (The Hulk) and...

Luisa Zissman is "obsessed" with Dappy's penis.
The sex-crazed 'Celebrity Big Brother' contestant enjoyed a close bond with the N-Dubz star in the Big Brother house and admits she is amazed by his large appendage.
She said: "I did walk in and see him going to the toilet. I haven't measured it but I'm obsessed with it. I only saw it briefly, but it looked huge!"
Despite appearing to frolic in the house, Luisa, 26, insists she isn't sure she and Dappy will be more than friends.
The brunette beauty said: "We do get on really well but I don't think either of us would jeopardise our friendship. I'm really flirty, Dappy's really flirty, but it doesn't mean we're about to become an item."
Luisa is also cautious about jumping into bed with the 26-year-old rapper.
She added: "I really don't think we would. I don't want to f**k it up by having sex with him. He might not even want to have sex with me!"
The former 'Apprentice' contestant admits, however, that she would have sex with fellow housemate Jasmine Waltz, whom she became good friends with.
She enthused to new! magazine: "She's really hot, totally my kind of girl. She's gorgeous!
"We definitely got energy from each other - we buoyed each other up and egged each other on."

'Coronation Street's' Tina McIntyre will find herself giving into her feelings for Peter Barlow next week.
The soap favourite played by Michelle Keegan is determined to leave Weatherfield in order to avoid an affair with married Peter - played by Chris Gascoyne - but the pair eventually give in and enjoy another passionate kiss.
A source told Inside Soap magazine: "Of course, Tina is making the most sensible decision for everybody by bidding the Street farewell and leaving Peter far behind. She knows it can only end in tears and those tears will probably be her own.
"Peter doesn't have the courage to choose between the two women in his life and refuses to sacrifice his marriage. The big problem is the overpowering chemistry between him and Tina - they're both slaves to this irresistible physical attraction."
Peter, who is married to Carla Connor (Alison King), previously refused to leave his wife for the barmaid but it appears he may be having a change of heart as he begs Tina not to leave.
The insider added: "Peter's son Simon, who Tina has grown very close to in recent weeks, is as upset as she is about the prospect of her departure. And after Peter tells her she mustn't go, poor Tina doesn't know what to think."

Queen are expected to play gigs in America this summer with Adam Lambert.
Brian May has revealed the band - which also features Roger Taylor - are still working together and planning to perform with Adam Lambert replacing the late Freddie Mercury as frontman.
Brian told BBC Radio 2: "We are ongoing, we can't help it, I think we all protested too much in the sense when Freddie went and we didn't want to talk about it and didn't want to be Queen for a while.
"But after a while you realise that people wanna hear the songs and see us do things. So, no matter what you call it, Roger and I do do stuff and I think we'll be doing some more stuff this summer in fact, probably in the States."
When quizzed about who will stand in as a frontman for the band, the 66-year-old musician said: "We've been talking to Adam Lambert, you know we've already done some gigs with Adam, who is amazing."
Brian and Roger have joined forces with 32-year-old Adam, who was the runner-up on American Idol in 2009, for a number of concerts in the past.
The band are also still "good friends" with Paul Rodgers, who they formed a supergroup with in 2005, but Brian said it was unlikely they would work together anytime soon.
He added: "Paul has a career of his own and he can't do the Queen thing indefinitely."

Little Mix were "disappointed" they weren't nominated for any Brit Awards this year.
The girl group - which includes Jesy Nelson, Jade Thirwall, Perrie Edwards and Leigh-Anne Pinnock - were hoping to receive recognition at the annual ceremony which honours musical talent but failed to get a single nod.
Jesy told London's Capital FM radio station: "We're not going to lie, we were disappointed. But there's not much you can do really."
However, Little Mix's second studio album 'Salute' topped the US iTunes chart earlier this week bringing in praise from other musicians.
One Direction's - who are up for British Group and British Single of the Year for 'One Way or Another' - Zayn Malik was bursting with pride and gushed about fiance Perrie on Twitter.
He previously wrote: "So proud of my baby !! Download the tune and keep it @ #1 !! 🙂 xx (sic)"
Zayn's 1D bandmate Niall Horan also applauded the girl group for the success of their second studio album which was released in the US on February 4.
He wrote: "The lovely girls of LittleMixOffic have are at #1 on the iTunes chart, you guys gotta keep it there for the week! It's a great album ! Xx (sic)"

One Direction have been given a year's worth of free cab journeys from a London minicab firm.
The boy band mention Addison Lee in their hit single 'Midnight Memories' when they sing "Way too many people in the Addison Lee", and the company were delighted to receive free publicity from one of the most popular boy bands around.
They were inspired by Louis Tomlinson after he took to Twitter this weekend (01.02.14) urging the firm to arrange some kind of deal following the "name drop".
He wrote: "Surely we get some kind of @AddisonLeeCabs gold card for the name drop haha !!?? (sic)"
A source told the Daily Mirror newspaper: "Addison Lee were delighted to be mentioned in the song. They even tried to see how many people you could actually fit in one of their cabs off the back of it.
"So they were more than happy to give something in return. Thanks to Louis, they came up with the idea of giving them a year's worth of free cab journeys."
1D - which also includes Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne and Harry Styles - were catapulted to the spotlight following their success on singing contest 'X Factor' in 2010 which is when they began using Addison Lee.
The source added: "One Direction have used Add Lees since they were on the 'X Factor', and continued to use the company after they were signed.
"They actually ended up using the same driver quite often, so they took him to Wembley one week to thank him for ferrying them around.
"Lots of the 'X Factor' alumni are still customers of the cab company.
"They've been looking at coming up with a celebrity scheme like this for a while, so the boys ­actually catapulted them into action."

Nicole Scherzinger met Prince at his hotel after his gig in London on Wednesday night (05.02.14).
The 35-year-old singer - who recently rekindled her romance with Lewis Hamilton - is good friends with the 'Purple Rain' hitmaker and she reportedly visited him in the early hours of the morning following his set at Camden's Electric Ballroom.
A source told The Sun newspaper: "Nicole was at another awards do attended by Prince Charles then went to see Prince in Camden.
"When the gig was over Prince went to his hotel in one car at 1am and Nicole pulled up shortly after with four minders. She stayed for a couple of hours."
Earlier that night Prince played two surprise shows in England's capital treating fans to new material and his greatest hits.
More than 800 people were allowed in the intimate venue in north London after the doors opened at 7pm and each lucky fan paid just £10 to see the legendary singer perform with his new all-female band 3RDEYEGIRL.
The set included new single 'Pretzelbodylogic', along with 'Let's Go Crazy', 'Funk 'n' Roll', 'Guitar' and 'She's Always in My Hair', in which the 55-year-old singer changed the lyrics to, "always in Prince's big curly hair".
Audience members shouted, "London loves you", before he handed his guitar out to the crowd and dozens of fans surged forward.
The musician came back on for a second encore before fans were ejected from the venue and security let in hundreds of people who were still queuing outside for the second performance.
The pop superstar powered through several of his most famous hits, including 'When Doves Cry' 'Housequake', 'I Would Die 4 U' and 'Purple Rain' and it was around this time that Nicole arrived.

John Legend is "romantic year-round".
The 'All of Me' singer is planning something special for Chrissy Teigen to celebrate their first Valentine's Day (14.02.14) together as husband and wife, even though he doesn't need an excuse to show his love for his spouse.
Chrissy told Us Weekly magazine: "John's always the sweetest thing. I'm happy cooking at home, but John will be planning something sexy elsewhere [for Valentine's Day]. He's romantic year-round, not just the holiday."
Although John, 35, may be a hopeless romantic, Chrissy, 28, says one of his less sexy qualities is his habit of leaving the bathroom door open when he's in there.
Speaking about how life has changed since they married in September 2013, she recently said: "It's the same, it' sexier, is that what you want me to say? It's so much sexier! Everything's better and bigger! Maybe we're a little more open with the bathroom.
"I am like, 'Babe. Take this back a notch. I cannot keep doing this. I want to pee separately. No more doors open.' "

Zac Efron has no relationship "deal breakers".
The 'That Awkward Moment' star claims there is no personality traits or habits a girl could have that would prevent him from falling in love with her.
Asked if he has any relationship deal breakers, he told America's OK! magazine: "I don't think that there are any. I'm not a person that lives with deal breakers in my life."
However, any potential partners had better not try and get him to watch 'Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants' - a 2005 movie about female friends as he can't bear the film.
He added: "OK, that's a deal breaker! Even with getting ten minutes of the best sex in exchange, it's still not worth sitting through!"
However, Zac, 26, thinks his latest film - about a group of guys who promise not to date after one of them is dumped - is the male equivalent of a chick flick.
He said: "I think guys can relate to this movie. We walk a careful balance between really being good guys deep down, and waking up the next day and feeling guilty for our commitment issues."