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.

[presidio9]

People ware filling your little head with stories. Contrary to Hollywood legend, when alcohol was illegal there was far less use of it.

[commonerX]

"do anything" in that statement I am refering to "taking a substance" that MIGHT cause you to harm others.

[presidio9]

Gay marriage also works for the Netherlands. This is not the Netherlands.

[Last Visible Dog]

Bottom Line: Drugs are illegal in the U.S. Do something illegal, go to jail. Don't like it, move!

...and slavery was once legal in the U.S. Good thing everybody didn't follow your advice and move.

[eyespysomething]

Do you have facts to back that up?

Or since it was illegal, were people not telling the truth when asked if they were drinking alcohol still?

But I'd like to see something to back up your statement.

[RockyMtnMan]

If the war on drugs is working why do we dump more money into it year after year? Shouldn't the war be over by now? There's an old saying "A fool and his money are soon parted". Since you are willing to invest your hard earned tax dollars on a failed federal program can I interest you in some real estate?

[mvpel]

Wrong. It is cited constantly. It is your only dependable argument. You can't prove that pot is not harmful. You can't pot damages the lives of people around it. So you fall back on the "But alcohol is legal" idiocy.

Care to respond to post 626? Thank you!

[commonerX]

Plus the constitution doesn't give people rights to do or not to do anything. It is the contract that limits and difines the governments responsiblities. The constitution is not really directed to the people but to the government. It's the laws that limit peoples actions and we have laws against harming people by what ever means.

[lugsoul]

Wow - less use, but more crime, more killing linked to it. How could that be?

You have amply demonstrated that your posts are worthy of no credit, that you will refuse to reference any support for you pronouncements, that you will refuse to respond to direct questions, that you are woefully uninformed on the subject matter, and that you don't have the courage or the skill to support the outrageous statements you propound. I'm done here.

[mvpel]

There are some tragic things in the lives of others directly related to your "harmless" marijuana use.

I would be willing to bet that every tragic thing that you have in mind are directly related to the War on Some Drugs.

Care to respond to post 626? Thank you!

[maui_hawaii]

common sense bump

[mvpel]

Um, Mr. Jefferson, pot is, like kinda, already illegal. You are the one who need to find a cogent argument for changing the status quo. So far, you haven't. But what the heck, right? We're only 800 posts into this thread (which is one of hundreds).

Care to respond to post 626? Thank you!

[Last Visible Dog]

If it gives you a buzz it's killing brain cells. Even holding your breath.....

Right.

So swimmers as a group must have serious brain damage.

[SpookBrat]

bookmarking

[eyespysomething]

http://www.drugwarfacts.org/causes.htm

Annual Causes of Death in the United States

Tobacco 430,700
Alcohol 110,640
Adverse Reactions to Prescription Drugs 32,000
Suicide 30,575
Homicide 18,272
All Licit & Illicit Drug-Induced Deaths 16,926
Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs Such As Aspirin 7,600
Marijuana 0


An exhaustive search of the literature finds no deaths induced by marijuana. The US Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) records instances of drug mentions in medical examiners' reports, and though marijuana is mentioned, it is usually in combination with alcohol or other drugs. Marijuana alone has not been shown to cause an overdose death.

Source: Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN), available on the web at http://www.samhsa.gov/; also see Janet E. Joy, Stanley J. Watson, Jr., and John A. Benson, Jr., "Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base," Division of Neuroscience and Behavioral Research, Institute of Medicine (Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1999), available on the web at http://www.nap.edu/html/marimed/; and US Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Administration, "In the Matter of Marijuana Rescheduling Petition" (Docket #86-22), September 6, 1988, p. 57.

[Destructor]

"Has nothing to do with that. His music has always been decent. Why would I ditch my Sabbath albums 'cause Ozzy said something stupid? (If you don't think what he said was stupid, read his Red Bull comment slowly."

That Red Bull comment makes perfect sense to me, but then again, -I'm not on drugs!

[AxelPaulsenJr]

Wonder if we can make a 1000 posts?

[toothless]

LALALALALAlALA

[mvpel]

Riiiight. So then tell me, why does our society so desperately NEED legalized mind-altering drugs?

FROM: David Wayne Case
SUBJECT: .50 Caliber Rifles
DATE: 14 May 1999
TO: Rep. Henry Waxman
FROM: David Wayne Case
SUBJECT: .50 Caliber Rifles
CC: Rep. Mark Sanford, Rep. Robert Barr, Sen. Strom Thurmond, Sen. Ernest Hollings

I have recently become aware of your furtive attempt to infringe upon my ownership of my Barrett rifle. I am a former Captain USMC, state marksmanship champion, NRA member, member of the Fifty Caliber Shooter's Association and an avid hunter of deer and hogs. To my knowledge, no .50 caliber rifle has ever been used in the commission of a crime.

My rifle cost $6,750. The telescope on the rifle cost $4,500. The ammunition I most often shoot costs @ $4.00 per round. While I tell you this, understand that what I'm trying to tell you is that I would be an idiot to spend $11,000 on a rifle to risk losing it in the legal aftermath of its illegal use.

I am now an investment banker and make $400,000 per year. I also have a Harley Davidson motorcycle and several cars with V-8 engines. Are you next going to tell me I don't NEED a V-8 engine ... don't NEED such a heavy, powerful motorcycle ... don't NEED a house with five bedrooms ... don't NEED a wife with such large breasts ...don't NEED a dog with such sharp teeth, and so on?

Get the hell out of my personal life and go play kissy face with Diane Feinstein, Barney Frank, Charles Schumer and those other leftists. This kind of "Chicken Little" reactionary noise is entirely useless. I am going to notify every legislator in my food chain that they need to take you behind the Capital and beat the crap out of you.

CC: Sen. Trent Lott, Sen. Orrin Hatch, Sen. Susan Collins

[AxelPaulsenJr]

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

Yeah I do. With every lurker that read the headline of this thread, from a big time drug user that pot leads to more serious addiction.