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.

[RockyMtnMan]

These are threads that tend to have a group of people supporting the low-class position that illegal drugs are OK and they are not, they are addictive and dangerous.

So is anonymous sex without a condom

You have to be addicted, reckless or just stupid to be getting into the habit of using them illegally.

Then why don't you just let the morons kill themselves off and save some tax money in the process?

[A CA Guy]

If you support the reading of Marxist literature knowing it leads to the practice of Marxism by the reader, like illegal drugs, you would be promoting EVIL!

Hope that clears it up for you.

[presidio9]

Why? Am I turning you on?

[ActionNewsBill]

Please provide evidence for your implied claim that Prohibition led to more alcohol consumption.

I will as soon as you post evidence for any of your absurd claims.

The way I understand the debating technique to work is : You post a claim, backed by evidence of some kind, then I will disagree with your assertion based on facts of my own.

So far you have posted zero facts in this entire thread.

Are you still living at home using your mom's computer?

[Xenalyte]

If you two start talking dirty to one another, I am so out of here.

[presidio9]

And you have a monopoly on sarcasm?

[lugsoul]

You still here? I thought you'd be slinking over to the corner to cower by now.

[lugsoul]

Clearly, presidio is not my type. I don't go for dummies and , besides, he's a fun sponge.

[presidio9]

I am not trying to change the status quo. You are. In order to do so, we need some EVIDENCE dagnabbit!

[A CA Guy]

Not really compared to what is available, but if a dying person is stubborn about using the stuff under controlled situations, why not?

It's all the other druggies jumping on board the back of cancer patients to do their drugs that is the problem.

[Xenalyte]

Probably not, but you're the only one of all the readers on this thread who failed to recognize it.

[presidio9]

Misfits of society that don't fit in.

That's a 10-4, good buddy.

[eyespysomething]

A lot of tax money:

http://www.drugsense.org/wodclock.htm

Money Spent on the War On Drugs this Year
Federal $10,170,047,312
State $10,585,788,940
Total $20,755,798,636

(these were the figures at 4:35, the amounts change constantly, as the money is flushed down the toilet)

The U.S. federal government will spend over 19.2 billion dollars at a rate of about $609 per second on the War on Drugs this year.

Source: Office of National Drug Control Policy

State and local governments will spend at least another 20 billion.

Source: Drucker, Dr. Ernest, (1998, Jan./Feb.). Public Health Reports,,

[Xenalyte]

If ANB provided evidence, you'd just ignore it.

[lugsoul]

"we need some EVIDENCE dagnabbit"

Hey Axel, aren't you gonna chastise your b-buddy presidio about his language?

[Xenalyte]

I've never claimed to use it for medicinal purposes. I like it for the same reason I like good beer and red wine.

[presidio9]

Yeah that's why I make masturbation jokes. -not. Among all the druggies you are the weakest link.

[AxelPaulsenJr]

You are the one that forgets that this is a family thread, with your most tastesless suggestion that sensativity training leads to shootings. Such as those that has been seen in recent days in this country

[commonerX]

I had to read Marxist writings for school and found the writings to be interesting, not a good method of government in my opinion. Most people think that the Soviet Union was the example of Marxist communism. But after reading it, I could find little that the Soviet Union followed in practice.

[eyespysomething]

Just like any I've given him.

He doesn't have time to learn anything, just spit out sound bites.