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.

[lugsoul]

"Prove your claim."

Well, I know you don't recognize the very concept of a corollary, but the repeal of Prohibition is about the only historical reference point on this issue. But I'm sure you'll just say the issues are unrelated.

[lugsoul]

I would ask you to explain what is twisted about it, but you have neither the ability nor the courage to do so.

[AxelPaulsenJr]

Yes but alcohol was legal before prohibition, and was made so again by it's repeal. Pot has never been legal.

[toothless]

No, dane is more logical.

shudder.

[lugsoul]

"Pot has never been legal."

Game, set, match. Do you have even the slightest inkling what you are talking about?

[toothless]

priceless

[Queen Jadis]

"Has Jack Osbourne ever done anything that could even remotely resemble a contribution to society??????? "

Probably not....but he IS still a teenager.

[RockyMtnMan]

Please identify how it will be any worse than alcohol. Don't know that it is, but alcohol is legal, pot is not.

That's rather circular logic don't you think, we are debating why it should or should not be legal. By saying pot is illegal your just avoiding the issue.

Prove your claim.

Did violence increase or decrease after prohibition? If we needed an amendment to limit the use of alcohol why do we not have an amendment limiting the use of drugs? I would say our rights have been wrongfully usurpted by the federal government, for better or worse it makes no difference.

[toothless]

For your information, idiot, MJ was made illegal right about the time of the end of prohibition. That law, which was based on never issued tax stamps, was declared unconstitutional. That is where the CSA came from.

lol.

[presidio9]

Wrong. I don't really care if you die. Really. I care about the harm that your drug use will cause others.


Go ahead, bring it back to alcohol. I have a whole bag of stock answers.

[toothless]

"I care about the harm that your drug use will cause others. "

such as?

[presidio9]

You don't think we have legalized drugs? You can't be that stupid. Well, no, maybe you can. And are.

See: that's all you've got. Semantics. You can't really be that stupid that you don't understand the definition of "drugs" for the purposes of this argument. Well, no, maybe you can. And are. Next?

[lugsoul]

Toothless is close to right. It was legal until six years AFTER the repeal of Prohibition. That's right. While alcohol was illegal, pot was legal. Given some of the arguments made on this thread, that is an interesting irony.

You clearly haven't taken the time to be informed on this topic. I'd suggest you start by reading a few of the downright comical assertions about marijuana that were used by Congress as the basis for passage of the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937. They didn't go quite so far as to say it will turn you into a bat, but close.

[presidio9]

Yeah, that was a funny movie, but stop trying to change the subject. You are losing this battle because: (A) You have yet to make a valid point and (B) we want you to keep bumping this silly article from MTV. Thanks for being dumb enough to comply.

[lugsoul]

My definition of drugs, for purposes of this argument, would be intoxicating substances used for recreational purposes. What is yours, brain trust? Things the government has declared to be illegal?

[presidio9]

We can bump this thread for weeks as far as I am concerned, so everyone can see that your posts have no credibility, no factual basis, and that you don't have the stones to even make an effort to support your argument.

Great, except that the only people who read 900 post threads that keep repeating themselves really ARE on drugs. Nobody is seeing anything you knucklehead.

[lugsoul]

Oh, no, presidio - it doesn't take 900. Anyone who reads only two or three of yours will know that you can't be taken seriously in this forum.

[presidio9]

Every singele post like this gives me a warm fuzzy feeling. Think of the thousands of people who stopped by to read this article because a handful of potheads don't know when to cut their losses.

[lugsoul]

"No, dane is more logical."

That is a disturbing thought. But I think you may be right.

[presidio9]

Riiiight. So alcohol and pot are the same thing again?