James Franco has been named “Stoner of the Year” by a pro-drugs publication.

It’s all thanks to James’ performance in this year’s stoner comedy, Pineapple Express, in which the 30-year-old actor plays a pot dealer on the run from a gang of mobsters.

“It’s not only with honor and respect for his current achievements, but also in anticipation of the good things to come, that we are more than pleased to name him our 2008 Stoner of the Year,” High Times Magazine writes in its new issuee.

James tells the mag that he first experimented with marijuana when he was in middle school.

“I was 13- or 14-years-old,” he explains.

“I was in eighth grade and smoked out of an apple in my friend’s backyard - then I went to an eighth grade dance and had a pretty good time.”