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.

[jayef]

Do you not understand the difference? Beer has to be manufactured through a very complicated process. Growing marijuana hydroponically is much simpler and produces greater yield at low cost.

[AxelPaulsenJr]

Despite your flawed views on the WOD, at least you have good taste in women.

LOL, thank you for the last part.

[AxelPaulsenJr]

Oh now that is clever. Presidio has it right you sir, are an idiot.

[presidio9]

Unlike your view. There is no such thing as common sense. They have to have a law for everything, right?

[discostu]

Obviously you have heard of Mr. Beer http://www.mrbeer.com/

Homebrew has gotten pretty easy. Actually compared to the hassle of setting up a basement greenhouse and hydroponic system at it's worst homebrew is about the same level of difficulty as homegrown.

[ActionNewsBill]

Hey good comeback. Say something relevant. Anything.

Since you hold the views of Mr. presidio in such high regard, thank you for the compliment.

[bird4four4]

I'm not concerned... with the violation of rights

Speaks volumns about you as a person.

I am concerned about the destruction of lives

Brings us back to the alcohol arguement. If you are so concerned about the destruction of lives, you need to petition the government to bring back prohibition. Only if you want to be consistant that is.

[ActionNewsBill]

Oh now that is clever. Presidio has it right you sir, are an idiot.

See post 406.

[toothless]

Are we in the backroom yet?

[dljordan]

It is. I started drinking at age 16 despite my father whopping the crap out of me when he caught me. Drank heavily for twenty years and finally kicked it. Destroyed my liver but I'm pretty much recovered now. I smoked pot but never liked it much. If you're gonna destroy yourself you're gonna do it no matter what and no amount of lecturing, laws, religion or threats are gonna stop you. Unless of course you just put everyone in prison which would make some people happy. Just my opinion.

[dljordan]

He's suddenly elevated to expert authority and shinig example.

[headsonpikes]

"Are we in the backroom yet?"

If not, it soon will be; there's a 'Golden Doughnut' at stake. ;^)

[mtbopfuyn]

Ozzie is the poster child of "Just say no."

[bird4four4]

Sec. 812. Schedules of controlled substances

(1) Schedule I. -

(A) The drug or other substance has a high potential for abuse.

(B) The drug or other substance has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States.

(C) There is a lack of accepted safety for use of the drug or other substance under medical supervision.

Please explain why Alcohol and Nicotine are not schedule I drugs

Pot has a low potential for abuse.  The US government supplies it to 7 people for medical purposes.  Why is it a Schedule I drug?

[jayef]

That's good news.

[kdmhcdcfld]

I'm surprised that Ozzy would even have the mindset to come to this conclusion.

"The Osbournes" was on MTV last night, and VH1 was airing "I Love The 80s" (1982) at the same time. VH1 had a few minutes of footage of Ozzy from '82, and I used this as an opportunity to flip between the two channels to show my kids the difference between the 1982 Ozzy and the 2003 Ozzy so they'd understand what drugs can do to a person. What a golden opportunity that was!

1982 Ozzy - Very coherent...2003 Ozzy - Lights are on but nobody's home!

[MrLeRoy]

For the puroses of this thread all I have been concerned with is the alcohol is bad argument.

And I had the last word on that subject (in post #220).

[discostu]

Most people just aren't creative enough in their nature to brew or grow their own. That's just how it goes, people are perfectly willing to buy stuff, that's the basis for all manufacturing based industries.

[MrLeRoy]

Not yet.

[toothless]

politics?