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.

[Xenalyte]

Either way, but if you'd selected the B option, I'd still be asking you what you meant. Words mean things, and spelling and orthography are part of meaning. (I don't give a damn what E.E. Cummings thought. Never did like his poetry.)

[toothless]

Smart, pro-freedom, and looks like a female version of xena... Are you married? :p

[AxelPaulsenJr]

My brother had a language professor at Universtiy of Michigan who was a strong believer that spelling was not important as long as the meaning was understood. I wonder how widespread is this belief?

[presidio9]

So are you spending your energy trying to get booze outlawed---or are you a hypocrite?

This statement is idiotic. I am spending energy keeping pot illegal. What are you doing?

[toothless]

Trying to end another foolish prohibition that does more harm then good.

[presidio9]

Please cite the statistics that it "does more harm than good." Be as specific as possible.

[commonerX]

The problem with most Drug Warrior types is they can't argue the point without insults. Insults seem to justify there answer,in thier mind, they assume all will agree with them because after all the other person is a doper.

[presidio9]

Smart, pro-freedom, and looks like a female version of xena

As opposed to Lucy Lawless?

[toothless]

I refer you to any book on the failure of prohibition 1.

[presidio9]

But alcohol and pot are not the same thing, as you have pointed out. Please cite some relevant statistics. Or don't you have any?

[MEGoody]

I don't know why Ozzy is surprised that his son is a drug addict. He and his wife, Sharon, have raised those kids in a very permissive atmosphere.

[Xenalyte]

Wow - that's another thread entirely, and one I'd LOVE to start. I'm a grammar compulsive (for which there is as yet no 12-step program), so misspelling actually distracts me from the meaning. If the misspellings are numerous and/or severe enough, I can't get through to the meaning.

True story. Back in the early '90s I taught freshman English at the University of Houston. One of the required textbooks was a composition workbook authored by the then-department head (!). I held up my copy in front of each class on the first day and said that they were under no circumstances to feel compelled to buy it, required or not.

It was utterly riddled with misspellings and grammar errors, including the cardinal sins of freshman English: run-on sentences and sentence fragments. I edited the first page, and found 62 errors. I was shocked.

[MEGoody]

"The problem with most Drug Warrior types is they can't argue the point without insults."

Well, that's true of most of the anti-WOD types too, so there you go.

[toothless]

prohibition doesn't work. guns, beer, mj whatever.

why dont you provide some statistics that show it does.

[MEGoody]

"Smart, pro-freedom, and looks like a female version of xena As opposed to Lucy Lawless?"

LOL

[Xenalyte]

Not yet, but I'm trying really hard to lasso Xena's Guy into it.

[MrLeRoy]

I am concerned about the destruction of lives [...] If you are concerned with human life you should spend your energy trying to get booze outlawed

So are you spending your energy trying to get booze outlawed---or are you a hypocrite?

I am spending energy keeping pot illegal.

You're spending no energy trying to get booze outlawed? Hypocrite.

[Xenalyte]

That's it exactly. If we could have a civil discussion without name-calling, it'd be easier to use logic and reasno.

[Xenalyte]

I'm not opposed to Lucy Lawless. Were it not for her, I wouldn't have a secret identity.

[MEGoody]

"why dont you provide some statistics that show it does."

Ah, an admission that you don't have the data you were asked for.