Jared Leto on quitting drugs: 'There are just those few that tend to kick you in the ass'

Actor says he made a choice to pursue his dreams after dabbling as a teenager

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Jared Leto has described the reasoning that made him quit drugs after doing “lots of them” in his past.

Leto’s brush with drugs came as a teenager in high school, and he says this is something he has no plans to repeat.

The Sucide Squad actor toldRolling Stone he is now “essentially straight-edge” and does not drink.

“My experience with drugs? I did them, lots of them. A lot of them were really fun. There are just those few that tend to kick you in the ass. I guess at some point, too, there's a decision: Is this going to be my life? I made a choice to pursue other dreams. I guess that's just the kind of f**ked thing about a lot of drugs: The opportunity cost is too high. Some drugs are incredible, but the risk versus reward is out of line. I just saw too many examples of what not to do.”

Leto also revealed the lengths he went to prepare for his role as the heroin-addicted protagonist in the harrowing 2000 adaptation of Hubert Selby Jr’s Requiem for a Dream. In an extreme measure, he spent weeks living with addicts and mimicking aspects of their drug addiction.

“They would shoot up dope and I would shoot up water,” he explained. “People would be uncomfortable if they're all shooting up and you're not. I wasn't sharing a needle. To shoot up anything is intense. That was a long time ago. I wouldn't do that again.”