Moviemaker and Army veteran OLIVER STONE was jailed just a week after coming home from the Vietnam War when border cops in California found marijuana in his luggage.

The Natural Born Killers director returned from the war in December, 1968 and brought "Vietnamese pot" back with him - and the drug almost cost him 20 years behind bars.

He tells High Times magazine, "I was busted at the Mexican border carrying some Vietnamese pot back to the U.S. I was facing federal smuggling charges, a five-to-20-year sentence.

"I was put in jail in San Diego County, which had a capacity of 2,000, maybe 2,500, but had 5,000 kids inside - all young, most of them for drugs."

Stone admits that was the first time he had heard the phrase 'America's war on drugs' - and he quickly realized the country he was returning to after the war wasn't the same one he left.

He adds, "(Richard) Nixon was coming into office in January '69, and sure enough, the guy kept pushing the silent majority and law and order.

"People started to go to jail heavy, and the borders were starting to be looked at heavy, and pot became a dangerous drug."

Stone did not discuss how long he spent behind bars or how he avoided a lengthy jail spell.

06/22/2012 5:07