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.

[bird4four4]

For Ozzy maybe coffee lead to crank, but there are millions of other coffee drinkers for whom it has not. Ozzy may know about his experiences, but that does not hold for everyone. Should we ban coffee or let those who can handle it, enjoy it?

[AxelPaulsenJr]

Levity rules, especially when the WODdies are hucking pebbles at us.

I kinda feel the same way, especially when one considers that most of the anti-woddie arguments are from never never land.

[presidio9]

We don't throw kids in jail for smoking pot. We throw the adults who sell them the drugs. Same as statutory rape. Next?

[RockyMtnMan]

I'm high on life, does that mean crack is next? ;-)

[toothless]

Good thing MTV used a sensational headline for an article where ozzy says that coffee leads to crank then.

[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.

Please if you are going to list a post that someone else writes list it so as not to obscure the point.

We have laws against harming others by what ever means. That includes rape, murder, beating someone, stealing, running red lights, speeding, tax evasion, so on and so on. It doesn't matter if someone was drunk or high before doing an illegal act. It's still illegal.

[Last Visible Dog]

Denied access to drugs is the same type of civil liberties crime as slavery.

Say what?

Sounds like someone is Bogarting some really good weed. (how else can that logic be explained).

BTW: my comment was addressing your “love the US’s current laws or leave” mentality.

[toothless]

720,000 arrests for posession show you are wrong.

[presidio9]

So tell me what you want to do about those "legal" drugs? Outlaw them? What? You are making absolutely no sense.

[mvpel]

Yeah, I saw the Untouchables. It was a great movie. But alcohol and pot are simply not the same thing. The War on Drugs is not Prohibition. So there is not much else to address here. Less kids are doing drugs because they are illegal. That's all I need to know.

Well, I give up. What can one do in the face of flat-out assertions such as "the War on [Some] Drugs is not Prohibition," eh?

I'm left to wonder if it's not prohibition to have criminal penalties for the possession and consumption of a certain substance, then what is it? The world may never know.

[A CA Guy]

Are you finding it difficult to try and talk logic to people who favor illegal drugs?
I'm shocked, shocked I tell you!

Their eyes are all red you say, what could cause that? LOL
They have needle marks on their arms and call themselves conservatives? I think not!

[lugsoul]

"We don't throw kids in jail for smoking pot."

I do love it so, every time you make an assertion that is just so utterly, completely, objectively untrue.

[presidio9]

So work on raising the minimum for posession for intent to sell. The laws are aimed at the dealers, just like the statutory rape laws. You original point is still assinine.

[toothless]

"The laws are aimed at the dealers,"

720,000 arrests for posession show you are wrong.

[A CA Guy]

Thou shall not put strange gods before Me.
A commandment those worshiping at the god of illegal drugs forget about completely!

[AxelPaulsenJr]

Well, I give up

Oh please don't just yet, we are trying to reach 1000 posts.

[toothless]

997

[toothless]

998

[toothless]

999

[A CA Guy]

Not if they possess more than a small quantity. In most cases those losers only pay a ticket fine. If they posses more than a small amount, then its orange jumpsuit time.