Lily Allen has been caught in the middle of a new controversy after saying that taking drugs is not as harmful as the media suggests.

The 23-year-old singer, whose follow-up album to her debut Alright, Still is due out this year, said that she had friends who regularly use cocaine but still manage to lead a normal life.

She told The Word magazine: "The only story is that drugs are bad and they will kill you - you will become a prostitute, a rapist or a dealer. But that's not true.

"I have no statement to make, I just wish people wouldn't sensationalise this thing that just exists."

Shadow home secretary Dominic Grieve has criticised Allen for her comments, calling them "naive", while drug charities have also condemned the singer for making comments that set a bad example to young fans.

The Fear singer also said that she was annoyed with her record label for putting her up in two-star hotels instead of giving her the lavish rock 'n' roll treatment of her musical predecessors.

She said that had she been on the music scene 20 years ago, "I'd have been booked in at the Ritz with five grams of cocaine on my table".