Ozzy Says He Now Believes Pot Leads To Other Addictions

MTV ^ | 07.08.2003 | Robert Mancini, with reporting by Gideon Yago

[presidio9]

Ozzy Osbourne may have weathered the lowest lows that drug addiction has to offer, but the news that his son Jack was seeking treatment for substance abuse taught him a lesson that his own decades of addiction never did.

"I used to think they should legalize pot, but you know what? They should ban the lot," Osbourne told MTV News, addressing Jack's battle for the first time. "One thing leads to another. Coffee leads to Red Bull, Red Bull leads to crank.

"When I found out the full depth of him getting into OxyContin, which is like hillbilly heroin, I was shocked and stunned," Osbourne continued. "The thing that's amazing was how rapidly he went from smoking pot to doing hillbilly heroin."

Ozzy's son entered a California rehabilitation facility in April to battle what was later revealed to be an addiction to the prescription painkiller OxyContin (see "Jack Osbourne Reveals He Was Addicted To Painkiller OxyContin"). Jack also said that he was drinking and using a variety of substances — including Vicodin, Valium, Xanax, Dilaudid, Lorcet, Lortab, Percocet and marijuana — before his trip to rehab (see "Rehab Helps Jack Osbourne Get To Root Of Addiction Problems").

Jack's laundry list of controlled substances made his father painfully aware of just how readily available drugs are. "When I started doing drugs years ago, they were hard to get, but today it's everywhere," Osbourne said. "It's not just America. It's not just California. It's not just Beverly Hills. It's not just downtown New York. It's not just London. It's all over the world" (see "All About OxyContin, The Pills Known As 'Killers' ").

This relatively easy access to allegedly "controlled" substances is especially hard for Ozzy to swallow given his firsthand experience with the damage that drugs can do.

"I'm 55 years old, and I didn't get off scot-free," Osbourne explained. "I have to take medication for the rest of my life because I've done so much neurological damage to my body," Osbourne said.

We'll have much more from our interviews with Ozzy and Jack in an "MTV News Now" special report, premiering Tuesday at 11 p.m. ET/PT (Jack's complete interview will appear on MTVNews.com when the show premieres). The show will be followed the next day by a repeat of MTV News' "True Life: I'm Hooked on OxyContin" at 6:30 p.m.

[WoofDog123]

Pot is illegal. It should be.""

What about alcohol?

My take on this (as a non-pot-smoker, but life-long alcohol user) is that pot is pretty harmless. Girls don't start prostituting for it 'cause they spent all their money and sold all their valuables already that night to get some more, and guys don't get so wired up they mug people to be able to buy a joint. If people want to kill or impair certain elements in their brain, they are more than free to in my book. They are also more than free to use alcohol to accomplish a dissimiliar but potent long-term effect as well. They can also smoke tobacco for a much more dissimilar but arguably more fatal long-term effect, or, coming soon, can eat fatty foods and pioneer new nanny-think legislation with their deaths which might be attributed to the tasty things they eat.

[drlevy88]

Pot does seem to play a trick that catches some first time users unaware and sends them running to the hospital in a panic. Speeds the heart up (WAY up, much more than caffeine, which may not be good for people with known or latent cardiac conditions). It also produces perceptional changes which while not unpleasant are unfamiliar to the novice. Some people panic because they didn't expect this; they thought they would just mellow down physically as well as mentally. I've never had pot, ever so this is second hand. But the reports seem, to me, to be credible. And this is probably why the stuff remains banned. So be warned.

[The Coopster]

I'll always admit being wrong, with proof.......

[Wolfie]

Just vote with your feet and pick a State that has decriminalized possession. That's what I did. Then its just a matter of dealing with the Black Market, which, being the free-est market around, is no problem at all.

[Wolfie]

If you could cite the studies that show that marijuana kill brain cells, that would be helpful.

[toothless]

"justice means protecting innocent people from druggies and that drug legalization dramatically reduces the quality of life in a society."

I smell a wiff of socialism.

[toothless]

This beat cop understands, why don't "conservitives"?

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/942847/posts?page=1

[toothless]

"The number of monthly drug users has declined from 26 million in 1979 to just over 14 million, according to the National Household Survey of Drug Abuse since Ronald Reagan's war on drugs...Well, fancy that, tougher laws on drugs mean less users."

If you believe self-reported numbers about criminal activity, I have a bridge in brooklyn you might be interested in buying.

[MrLeRoy]

"The number of monthly drug users has declined from 26 million in 1979 to just over 14 million, according to the National Household Survey of Drug Abuse since Ronald Reagan's war on drugs...Well, fancy that, tougher laws on drugs mean less users."

Either that, or tougher laws on drugs mean less self-reporting by users. Ya think?

[Wolfie]

"Tell me sir, are you participating in activity that is the root of all evil, will curve your spine, and lose the war for the Allies?"

"Oh gee, sir, of coures not. Nosirreebob, not me. (You seen my papers around here?)"

[MrLeRoy]

"One thing leads to another. Coffee leads to Red Bull, Red Bull leads to crank."

Recent studies by the RAND Corporation, and by economist Steven Pudney of the University of Leicester, have deflated the "gateway theory."

[KEVLAR]

Wrong. Please try again.

[jmc813]

WOD Ping

[jmc813]

This thread will soon be full of Libertarian Children saying that Alcohol is much worse than marijuana.

Why do you personally think pot is worse than alcohol?

[KEVLAR]

So I guess the RKBA crowd got it wrong when they correlate lowered crime rates with CCW laws and armed citizens. Thanks for clearing that up for me.

[presidio9]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/942511/posts?page=29#29

[SerpentDove]

>>Coffee leads to Red Bull, Red Bull leads to crank. <<

Boy am I headed down the wrong path!

*slurp*

[KEVLAR]

What other things.
Cinfla tried to tell me Libertarians were for legalizing all sorts of sick stuff, however no evidence was provided to back this up. I would of never looked at the LP website if it were not for cinfla, and it is a good thing I did, none of the items mentioned by cinfla were there.

[jmc813]

Pot is illegal. It should be.

Thank you for that brilliant analysis. Would you mind expanding on it a bit?

[eyespysomething]

As the daughter of 2 raging, passing out in their dinner plate drunks, who drove me around drunk the whole time I was growing up, then quit when I was 16 and wondered where they went wrong with me (that was then, this is now), and then both still died from the horrific effects the alcohol had on their bodies (cirrohsis, liver cancer, stomach cancer) even after they had quit, alcohol seems to be much more of a health risk to me.

All those drugs Jack was taking, that's nuts. I would say the prescription drugs led to more drugs, not the marijuana.

Ok, let me finish my coffee so I can rush out to buy some crank/meth.