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]

So now you're calling all of us who oppose the War on Drugs potheads? Between the strict Constitutionalists and the teachers, you're really asking for it.

[ActionNewsBill]

I'm just looking to keep bumping this article.

IOW, you have no facts to back up your position, you just want to keep showing others how illogical and clueless you are?

I can live with that.

[lugsoul]

Try a little sensitivity training. Unless, of course, that would make you go out and shoot people.

[presidio9]

Not only are you ignorant about marijuana, but you are also a big supporter of prison rape for pot users.

Hey, I told you NOT to drop the soap.

[Xenalyte]

Ignoring evidence is never worth it. You'd make a crappy lawyer.

[A CA Guy]

"Treason", by the pro-drug addiction crowd trying to increase the size of the drug culture and thereby attempting to take down the American lifestyle from within.

Communists attempt the same thing with their politic as drug users do with their drug politics.

[presidio9]

Exactly. Drugs are for anti-social losers.

[Xenalyte]

Who ever said we're pro-addiction? Do you deny that some people can ingest substances and not be addicted?

If you think anyone who ingests anything is addicted thereto, how do you explain social drinkers? Or people who can smoke a cigarette on Friday night and leave it?

[eyespysomething]

Have parents educate their own kids?

** slaps self on forehead **
Naw, what am I thinking?!

[commonerX]

I thought pot was supposed to make people "mellow."



I thought you said pot makes people harm others. Are you saying that potheads will kill you but be mellow about it.

[A CA Guy]

If it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, then it is a "Strict Constitutionalists?

Wow, that is a new one for me. OK!

[lugsoul]

As opposed to the garden-variety losers who don't mind showing their uninformed, dishonest a** in broad daylight, like you?

[presidio9]

So when pushers who sell drugs to kids are suddenly able to obtain their supply more easily, they will suddenly decide to stop selling drugs to kids? (chuckle)

[ActionNewsBill]

Like legalizing drugs will result in more kids on drugs.

That lie has already been de-bunked, but of course, you must have skipped over that little tidbit of information.

Just like you have conveniently ignored every other fact posted.

[Xenalyte]

I give up. If you won't pull your head out, I can't extricate it either.

[RockyMtnMan]

Personal responsibility is for wusses real men need the government to keep them in line.

[A CA Guy]

Misfits of society that don't fit in.

[AxelPaulsenJr]

Try a little sensitivity training. Unless, of course, that would make you go out and shoot people.

1,203 posted on 07/10/2003 1:14 PM PDT by lugsoul

Well this now shows what a sick perverted little man you are. Go for it, you little twit.

[A CA Guy]

Misfits of society that don't fit in.

[ActionNewsBill]

Like legalizing drugs will result in more kids on drugs.

That lie has already been de-bunked, but of course, you must have skipped over that little tidbit of information.

Just like you have conveniently ignored every other fact posted.