<p>Hollywood actor Sean Penn has expressed regret that the article he wrote after interviewing Mexican drug lord Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman failed to spark a debate about the US war on drugs.<br /><br /></p>.<p>In an excerpt of the interview broadcast today, Penn said his goal in meeting with Guzman was to shine a light on America's role in the international drug trade.<br />"We are the consumer. Whether you agree with Sean Penn or not, there is a complicity there," Penn said told journalist Charlie Rose, in an interview scheduled to air in full Sunday on the CBS program "60 Minutes."<br /><br />"If you are in the moral right, or on the far left, just as many of your children are doing these drugs," the actor said.<br /><br />"How much time have they spent in the last week since this article came talking about that?"<br /><br />Penn added: "I have a regret that the entire discussion about this article ignores its purpose, which was to try to contribute to this discussion about the policy in the war on drugs."<br /><br />His interview was published last Saturday in Rolling Stone, triggering a barrage of criticism, including condemnation of Penn himself.<br /><br />Among other things, the ire has centered on Penn's letting Guzman review the piece before it ran; seeming to glorify -- or at least go easy on -- a man blamed for thousands of deaths in Mexico's drug-related violence and contributing to drug addiction in America.<br />Other critics fault him with having engaged in gonzo journalism while real reporters covering the drug trade in Mexico risk their lives daily.<br /><br />Penn challenged the Mexican government's assertion that the interview -- held in an undisclosed location in Mexico -- helped the authorities track down Guzman, who was captured the day before the article was published.<br /><br />"There is this myth about the visit that we made, my colleagues and I with El Chapo, that it was -- as the attorney general of Mexico is quoted -- 'essential' to his capture," the actor said.<br /><br />"We had met with him many weeks earlier...on October 2, in a place nowhere near where he was captured." <br /></p>
<p>Hollywood actor Sean Penn has expressed regret that the article he wrote after interviewing Mexican drug lord Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman failed to spark a debate about the US war on drugs.<br /><br /></p>.<p>In an excerpt of the interview broadcast today, Penn said his goal in meeting with Guzman was to shine a light on America's role in the international drug trade.<br />"We are the consumer. Whether you agree with Sean Penn or not, there is a complicity there," Penn said told journalist Charlie Rose, in an interview scheduled to air in full Sunday on the CBS program "60 Minutes."<br /><br />"If you are in the moral right, or on the far left, just as many of your children are doing these drugs," the actor said.<br /><br />"How much time have they spent in the last week since this article came talking about that?"<br /><br />Penn added: "I have a regret that the entire discussion about this article ignores its purpose, which was to try to contribute to this discussion about the policy in the war on drugs."<br /><br />His interview was published last Saturday in Rolling Stone, triggering a barrage of criticism, including condemnation of Penn himself.<br /><br />Among other things, the ire has centered on Penn's letting Guzman review the piece before it ran; seeming to glorify -- or at least go easy on -- a man blamed for thousands of deaths in Mexico's drug-related violence and contributing to drug addiction in America.<br />Other critics fault him with having engaged in gonzo journalism while real reporters covering the drug trade in Mexico risk their lives daily.<br /><br />Penn challenged the Mexican government's assertion that the interview -- held in an undisclosed location in Mexico -- helped the authorities track down Guzman, who was captured the day before the article was published.<br /><br />"There is this myth about the visit that we made, my colleagues and I with El Chapo, that it was -- as the attorney general of Mexico is quoted -- 'essential' to his capture," the actor said.<br /><br />"We had met with him many weeks earlier...on October 2, in a place nowhere near where he was captured." <br /></p>