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.

[jmc813]

Hmm, the same "conservitives" who would fight tooth and nail against the use of spys and snitches and the erosion of the 4th amendment when it comes to the war on guns love it when it comes to the war on drugs.

I wouldn't go that far. It's well known that many of FR's biggest drug warriors are gun-grabbers as well.

[dead]

The number of monthly drug users has declined from 26 million in 1979 to just over 14 million, according to the National Household Survey of Drug Abuse since Ronald Reagan's war on drugs

Yeah Sparky, nice cause and effect going there. The government promises tougher penalties for drug use, then asks you if you use drugs.

Gosh golly! The number dropped!

The drop in the crime rate correlates with the implementation of tougher drug laws.

Most drug laws were toughened in the sixties and seventies, followed by an explosive growth in crime. The drop in crime came much later, which makes the opinion that there was a cause and effect there rather absurd.

[dead]

No, those that want to legalize pot and drugs -- liberaltarians that join Barney Frank, Joycelyn Elders and the left-wing nations of the Netherlands and Canada -- are real leftists.

If you’re throwing out names of “liberaltarians” (that wasn’t very clever the first fourty thousand times) who favor legalization, you may as well add George Will and Jim Robinson to your list of "leftists."

[MrLeRoy]

I'm just amused by the childish libertarian "logic" of "alcohol is terrible, so legalize pot."

Straw man. The argument is that since we are prospering with (despite?) legal alcohol---which is more addictive than pot, and, unlike pot, increases violence and leads to fatal overdoses---therefore we can prosper with legal pot.

[MrLeRoy]

And William F. Buckley.

[toothless]

"Yeah Sparky, nice cause and effect going there. The government promises tougher penalties for drug use, then asks you if you use drugs."

I can just imagine the conversation:

"Hello?"

"Hi, This is SoAndSo with SuchAndSuch Research. We are doing a survey on household drug use."

"ok."

"Have you used drugs in the current month?"

"Heck ya man, im ripped right now!"

[nonliberal]

He is on anti-psychotics and drugs to alleviate tremors. All of his ailmets were caused by his extracurricular activites.

[presidio9]

Its not a "straw man." Two wrongs don't make a right. Gawd you Libertoonians are silly.

[MrLeRoy]

Its not a "straw man."

Yes it is: "The Straw Man fallacy is committed when a person simply ignores a person's actual position and substitutes a distorted, exaggerated or misrepresented version of that position."

Two wrongs don't make a right.

So the legality of alcohol is wrong?

[KEVLAR]

So then you are saying that Alcohol should be made illegal?

[presidio9]

I'm saying, like, ya' know man, one has nothing to do with, like, the other. Can you dig it?

The fact that one harmful product is legal simply will never be justification for legalizing another. The fact that potheads everywhere keep repeating this mantra till they're blue in the face is the clearest indication that they have not even thought their arguments through. Why should anyone ever take you guys or your opinions seriously?

[MrLeRoy]

I'm saying, like, ya' know man, one has nothing to do with, like, the other.

False. The argument is that since we are prospering with (despite?) legal alcohol---which is more addictive than pot, and, unlike pot, increases violence and leads to fatal overdoses---therefore we can prosper with legal pot.

[VANHALEN2002]

Sabbath Rocks! Never Say Die!

[vin-one]

it's not a strawman, it's logic
which anybody who supports the WOD seems to have.

[presidio9]

Who says we are "prospering" in spite of alcohol? Not me.

[KEVLAR]

How about you pipe down with the insults.
Your opinion is worth no more or less than the next persons.
Why was MJ made illegal to begin with?
Why was alcohol made illegal?
Why was it then legalized, despite the known harm it causes?
Why did it take a constitutional amendment to ban one but not the other?
Where does the fedgove get the authority to ban anything at all?
I grow tired of idiots like you.
Why would anyone take you or your opinion seriously?

[presidio9]

it's not a strawman, it's logic which anybody who supports the WOD seems to have.

I'd ask you to try to explain that to Leroy, but like all other Libertarians he's not very bright. Prolonged use of marijuana effects brain function.

[Sir Gawain]

I'll always admit being wrong, with proof.......

I cited my source with my evidence. Now it's your turn.

[vin-one]

actually my typing skills are not very good this morning,
up half the night,
It should have read it's not a strawman, it's call logic,
Which anyone sho supports the WOD seems not to have.

[presidio9]

Stop getting emotional dude, you are killing my buzz. The problem with you guys is you can not make a convincing case for why we need legalized drugs so you stick to pointing out other inconsistencies. As if that makes legalized pot desirable. Because of that your opinions are a joke and I treat them with the respect they deserve.