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.

[Wolfie]

Let his son get arrested and do some time, and Oz will change his tune. (And coffee leads to crystal meth? That's priceless.)

[B Knotts]

He wants to ban coffee?!?

What a nut.

[dead]

Jack Osbourne in prison. There's a really really really sad image.

They'd pass him around like currency, while Ozzy incoherently cheered the wisdom of the laws that put him there.

[toothless]

Jack wouldn't do time, hes famous.

[journey7873]

This is going to stir the Free Republic potheads up.

[Wolfie]

Kind of convenient, isn't it?

[CWOJackson]

What will Jim Morrison say?

[mvpel]

So right.

And besides, if someone wants to bake his brain, why should we stop him? The only credible arguments against that are rooted in socialized medicine.

[Wolfie]

The mantra of the typical well-off parent is that their kid has a "problem" and needs treatment. Undoubtedly, the kid will go on the "rehab track" instead of the "punishment track". Makes it easier for the parent to go on espousing the virtues of the Drug War, since their children will never have to suffer the consequences.

[laotzu]

"This thread will soon be full of...."

Ozzy was an idiot 20 years ago, and he's an idiot today.

Odd; to so readily join company with the likes of this moron, yet anxious to berate fellow conservatives.

[KEVLAR]

As usual no mention of Libertarians in the article. What is with you people.

[William Terrell]

Good point.

[toothless]

No drug warrior is a real conservitive, they are socialists. They believe in putting people in jail for private behavior to protect 'society'. Hardly a conservitive position.

[Question_Assumptions]

Now, if they can only get him off the faux-Satanism and into Church like Alice Cooper...

[nothingnew]

Jack also said that he was drinking and using a variety of substances — including Vicodin, Valium, Xanax, Dilaudid, Lorcet, Lortab, Percocet and marijuana...

WHOA!!!!...sounds like some of my earlier years...only things missing are acid and peyote.....I can still type though.

FMCDH

[zeugma]

How about that? Only six posts before we saw yet another content-free WOD crowd gratuitously insulting Libertarians. Your cogent and penetrating arguments against intoxicants are truely awe-inspiring.

Are your jack-boots feeling especially tight tonday?

[Pahuanui]

Most of the people in prison for drug offenses are not the users, but the dealers, who are often involved in other criminal activities.

Please supply evidence to support your claim.

[TBall]

Is it a rule that conservative pot smokers have to be Libertarian? Can't they vote for W?