Make drugs legal to save lives: Penn Jillette

American actor Penn Jillette has urged policy-makers in the US to legalise all drugs, insisting it will make the world a "safer" place for youngsters.

The "Tough Guy Don't Dance" actor wants all narcotics to be decriminalised and regulated to take the multi-million dollar industry out of the hands of violent criminals, reports contactmusic.com.

"Well, it's safer for children to have them legal, in a way. When you have drugs illegal you give people that live outside the law a great deal of power. MCDonald's and Burger King don't have gang wars," he said.

"(I don't have) a rosy view: if you make it legal there will be a lot of downsides. But maybe those downsides will be less against innocent people," he added.

Asked how he would feel about his own children using drugs, the father-of-two replies: "I guess we'll find out. They almost certainly will. I've never done drugs. But I'm aware everybody else does, and everybody else does a fine job with it. So I can't imagine my children will be any different."