MALIBU, CALIF. ? Actor Nick Nolte pleaded no contest Thursday to one count of driving under the influence of drugs. He was sentenced to three years’ probation, including counseling and drug testing.

In exchange for his plea, prosecutors dropped a second misdemeanor charge of being under the influence of a controlled substance.

The 61-year-old “48 Hours” star was stopped Sept. 11 near his Malibu home after swerving his black Mercedes into oncoming lanes on Pacific Coast Highway. Lab tests showed he had used the banned depressant GHB, the so-called date-rape drug, although Nolte said after sentencing Thursday that he had taken “a synergistic amino acid thing.”

“I have deep regrets being on the road in that condition,” he said.

Nolte voluntarily entered a Connecticut rehabilitation facility four days after his arrest. He said after the hearing Thursday that he felt excellent.

“It was kind of a godsend, a wake-up call,” the actor said.

Nolte was nominated for Academy Awards for 1991’s “The Prince of Tides” and 1997’s “Affliction.”

Nick Nolte