Alec Baldwin Urges Tourists To Take Part In New York's 'Great Drug Tradition'

Actor ALEC BALDWIN has urged visitors to New York to ditch the city's famous horse-drawn carriages - and get drunk and take drugs instead.

The native New Yorker claims the vices are as valid a "tradition" as the carriages, which he claims are cruel to the horses forced to pull tourists around Manhattan.

Speaking at a People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals event in the city on Wednesday (18Jun08), Baldwin told WENN about the traditions he took part in during his youth in New York: "I walked through Union Square on my way to acting class and got offered loose joints. Drug dealing was a great tradition in this city.

"There are other traditions people can get involved with in this city. When I was younger, I used to get a bottle of wine and get drunk under the Staten Island Ferry... so there are things like that you can do."