SCOTT WEILAND To RICHARD PATRICK: 'I Haven't Had A Needle In My Arm In 13 Years

[Sklashboombash]

http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/scott-weiland-to-richard-patrick-i-havent-had-a-needle-in-my-arm-in-thirteen-years/

THE SAGA CONTINUES


Scott Weiland has responded to FILTER frontman Richard Patrick's assertion that STONE TEMPLE PILOTS fans are Weiland's "biggest enabler."

Speaking with MusicFrenzy.net, Patrick defended STP's decision to fire Weiland in 2013 and replace him with LINKIN PARK's Chester Bennington.

Patrick, who once played in the short-lived act ARMY OF ANYONE with STP's Dean and Robert DeLeo, explained, "The amount of shit that [the fans] give the band for trying to have a normal life… [The fans are] just sticking up for Scott, and they have no idea of [what is going on] behind the scenes." He added, "They're pushing him into his death, because they're making him believe that, 'Whatever I did is acceptable. And I can be as high as I want. And I can do as much drugs as I want.'"

Patrick continued: "[Some STP fans say], 'He's a badass rock and roll star. You can't have STP without Scott Weiland.' Okay, well, you're gonna get what you want — he'll be a rock-star legend that died in a hotel room with a needle sticking out of his arm, and it will not be a cool thing, and it will be sad, and his kids will be traumatized."

Patrick also said, "It's sad that three guys have to sit around and wait for someone to show up to a rehearsal. And they've been there for two weeks working, and the singer hasn't even shown up. And you get onstage and the guy doesn't even know how to sing his own songs. And it's pathetic. And it's sad for everybody."
In response to Patrick's comments, Weiland has released the following statement to BLABBERMOUTH.NET:
"Hey, Richard — thanks for your thoughts and opinions on my life.  Just so you know, and others do as well, I haven't had a needle in my arm in thirteen years. 

"Overcoming my addiction to heroin was the hardest thing I've ever done, and I'm damn proud of the fact that the time in my life when drugs were stronger than my commitment to my health is so far behind me, and always will be.

"By the way, man, I recall when I DID do drugs, and you were one of the guys getting high with me.  It's behind you, please note and respect that it's behind me too. 

"As for my issues with my former band — just remember the old adage that there are two sides to every story. 
"I haven't been late for a show in a very long time.  I have worked hard to be present and on time for my fans. 
"I'm not perfect — no one is — but I have worked my ass off to repair the reputation I created by being thoughtless years ago. 
"Why you felt the need to attack me is unclear but I am happy to set the record straight. 
"Best regards to you."
Patrick has reportedly been sober since September 2002.

Dean DeLeo told The Pulse Of Radio that the rest of STP did not take firing Weiland lightly. "This definitely wasn't a decision that was made over six months or even a year or six or 10 years," he said. "It's been something that's been going on for a long, long, long time and, you know, it wasn't really so much about the band, it was more of a quality of life I think we just needed for ourselves, you know. I couldn't do it any more. Look, if I'm gonna carry on inappropriately, there's gonna be a thousand guys in line for my job."
STP began working with Bennington in May 2013 after firing Weiland three months earlier, saying that his erratic behavior and pursuit of a solo career had been detrimental to the band.

Weiland recently released an album called "Blaster" with his touring band THE WILDABOUTS.

[foou33]

shhhh, nobody tell Scott there are other ways of taking drugs.

[Blue]

"I haven't been late for a show in a very long time.  I have worked hard to be present and on time for my fans. 
"I'm not perfect — no one is — but I have worked my ass off to repair the reputation I created by being thoughtless years ago. 

Apparently Scott has a very selective memory. Someone should show him his stage times from 2010-2013.


As for as the needle in the arm statement, clearly Patrick has no idea what substance Scott has been abusing. But that doesn't completely nullify what he has said. Scott still seems to be in denial about his alcoholism, and clearly he's in denial about what a shit he's been to his fans in the last years of STP.


I appreciate that Scott does try to take the high road and not shit on other people, but he needs to stop pretending his shit doesn't stink. He fucked over a lot of people from 2010 through 2013. It would be nice to hear an apology for that, instead of a justification that because he's not in to heroin his alcoholism is ok.

[Lazy Divey]

There are two sides to every story and I would really like to hear Scott's side but he -has- been trying to take the high road and not badmouth the deleos.


Patrick must have really pissed him off or hit a nerve for him to say something.

[HelloItsLate]

I appreciate that Scott does try to take the high road and not shit on other people

Are you fucking kidding me? What do you call what he just did to the guys in Art of Anarchy?

[lovemachine97]

Take out the possibility of sharing needles, what it might be cut with, and the general variation in potency, and alcohol is much more damaging to the human body than heroin. Medically pure heroin is much less damaging to the human body than drinking.


I am assuming that Scott paid top dollar for his heroin, so he got as much consistency has possible, and I am guessing he didn't share needles.


So what he is doing now is actually worse for him.

[Blue]

I appreciate that Scott does try to take the high road and not shit on other people

Are you fucking kidding me? What do you call what he just did to the guys in Art of Anarchy?

I did use the qualifier *try*.

[Strat]

"I haven't been late for a show in a very long time.  I have worked hard to be present and on time for my fans. 
"I'm not perfect — no one is — but I have worked my ass off to repair the reputation I created by being thoughtless years ago. 

Apparently Scott has a very selective memory. Someone should show him his stage times from 2010-2013.

This. I was in the audience in 2011 and in 2012 when the band came on very, very late. So late that some people left before they hit the stage.


But at least those were good shows, once he decided to show up. Can't say the same for the solo show I caught in 2013. Nothing damaged Scott's reputation as much as Purple to the Core. Back then he was playing 2000/3000 seat arenas like House of Blues. He still has a long way to go to repair his reputation.

[andrew]

shhhh, nobody tell Scott there are other ways of taking drugs.

I'm pretty sure the point of Scott's whole statement and his quote "Just so you know, and others do as well, I haven't had a needle in my arm in thirteen years"

is in regards Dick Patrick's slanderous comment:

"he'll be a rock-star legend that died in a hotel room with a needle sticking out of his arm"


Scott's been open with his alcohol problem, and even talked about it in his book. He knows it's a problem, but has it been affecting his shows in the past year+? Yeah, sure, if you're one of those people grasping at straws looking for any reason to shit on the guy. But then why are 90+% of the comments I've seen about the Wildabouts shows in 2014 & 2015 positive "it was a good show" comments?

 For some other washed up rock star (who very likely has had very few, if any interactions with the guy in the past several years) to come out and say Scott's going to die from shooting up heroin, Scott's got every right to be pissed off and point out the fact he's been on mostly good behavior if you don't count less than a handful of complaints about a meet & greet and this whole Art Of Anarchy debacle.



But yeah, anything to vilify Scott Weiland at this point in time, right?

Let's only point out Scott's fuck ups and few bad shows, when they were very few and far between.

Take out the possibility of sharing needles, what it might be cut with, and the general variation in potency, and alcohol is much more damaging to the human body than heroin. Medically pure heroin is much less damaging to the human body than drinking.


I am assuming that Scott paid top dollar for his heroin, so he got as much consistency has possible, and I am guessing he didn't share needles.


So what he is doing now is actually worse for him.

These are wonderful assumptions you're making. And very likely way off base.


And we're just assuming Scott's downing bottle after bottle of booze and prescription drugs while we're at it?


Like Dean said "with fans like these....."

[andrew]

All these comments make it seem like everybody has forgotten Scott Weiland is an addict and is also bi-polar and has been for the past 20+ years.

He's not perfect, he's never going to be, but he's trying. A lot of you seem to think Scott isn't trying. I don't think he has ever fucked anybody over or let anybody down intentionally.


Dude's got problems. Always has, always will. I remember even just a few years ago when people were thankful Scott Weiland is alive and still making music.


Now it's just bitch, bitch, bitch. "His voice sucks, his band sucks, he's late to shows, he's still on drugs, he's drunk all the time, he's killing himself, he was impolite to some fans, my diaper needs changed."

[lovemachine97]

shhhh, nobody tell Scott there are other ways of taking drugs.

I'm pretty sure the point of Scott's whole statement and his quote "Just so you know, and others do as well, I haven't had a needle in my arm in thirteen years"

is in regards Dick Patrick's slanderous comment:

"he'll be a rock-star legend that died in a hotel room with a needle sticking out of his arm"


Scott's been open with his alcohol problem, and even talked about it in his book. He knows it's a problem, but has it been affecting his shows in the past year+? Yeah, sure, if you're one of those people grasping at straws looking for any reason to shit on the guy. But then why are 90+% of the comments I've seen about the Wildabouts shows in 2014 & 2015 positive "it was a good show" comments?

 For some other washed up rock star (who very likely has had very few, if any interactions with the guy in the past several years) to come out and say Scott's going to die from shooting up heroin, Scott's got every right to be pissed off and point out the fact he's been on mostly good behavior if you don't count less than a handful of complaints about a meet & greet and this whole Art Of Anarchy debacle.



But yeah, anything to vilify Scott Weiland at this point in time, right?

Let's only point out Scott's fuck ups and few bad shows, when they were very few and far between.

Take out the possibility of sharing needles, what it might be cut with, and the general variation in potency, and alcohol is much more damaging to the human body than heroin. Medically pure heroin is much less damaging to the human body than drinking.


I am assuming that Scott paid top dollar for his heroin, so he got as much consistency has possible, and I am guessing he didn't share needles.


So what he is doing now is actually worse for him.

These are wonderful assumptions you're making. And very likely way off base.


And we're just assuming Scott's downing bottle after bottle of booze and prescription drugs while we're at it?


Like Dean said "with fans like these....."

The science outweighs government propaganda at this point. Heroin is morphine with two added acetyl groups so it passes the blood-brain barrier faster. Once it does, our bodies metabolize heroin as what it is--morphine.

If the propaganda of the last 100 years were true, just about everyone who received morphine for pain in the hospital would be addicted and need to get their "fix" upon being released. But that doesn't happen.

Heroin, which we're told can hook most people at one drop, actually has an addiction rate that caps at about 20%. However, that is kind of lying by omission because we know that addiction actually has more to do with your environment than it does with your body or chemical dependence. Our old ideas about addiction put rats in cages with a choice of water or heroin-laced water. The rats would take the heroin water until they died.

But, if you put a rat in a fun cage with other rats to have sex with, wheels, food, balls to push around, rats almost never take the heroin water. We saw this happen during Vietnam when marijuana laws were enforced, so our troops over there resorted to using heroin. Instead of a bunch of soldiers coming back as addicts, over 90% of them quit using within a year of returning to the US. Their "cage" had changed.

What we've also found is that the correlation between addictive behavior and child abuse is stronger than the correlation between obesity and heart disease.

What this means is that Scott is a prime candidate for abuse and addiction. He was raped as a child, and he when he was super famous, he spent 22 hours a day on the road, trying to live anonymously. For the other 2 hours, he was getting a "high" performing on stage. Take the abuse, the 22 hour cage, and trying to get the feeling he gets the other two hours, it's not a surprise that Scott has addictive tendencies.

As far as heroin goes, we know what the most damaging drugs are. Heroin is number two. Alcohol is number one. But the most dangerous part about heroin is a) what it is cut with, and b) its unpredictable potency. These are both byproducts of its illegality. It does not do near the damage to human organs that alcohol does.

Scott is not "sober," but 12 step is not going to help him. The most current science on the subject suggests that abusers be taught that they do have control over their use. Telling users that don't have control--which is what 12 step programs do--actually hurts more people than it helps.

[kravdog]

shhhh, nobody tell Scott there are other ways of taking drugs.

I'm pretty sure the point of Scott's whole statement and his quote "Just so you know, and others do as well, I haven't had a needle in my arm in thirteen years"

is in regards Dick Patrick's slanderous comment:

"he'll be a rock-star legend that died in a hotel room with a needle sticking out of his arm"


Scott's been open with his alcohol problem, and even talked about it in his book. He knows it's a problem, but has it been affecting his shows in the past year+? Yeah, sure, if you're one of those people grasping at straws looking for any reason to shit on the guy. But then why are 90+% of the comments I've seen about the Wildabouts shows in 2014 & 2015 positive "it was a good show" comments?

 For some other washed up rock star (who very likely has had very few, if any interactions with the guy in the past several years) to come out and say Scott's going to die from shooting up heroin, Scott's got every right to be pissed off and point out the fact he's been on mostly good behavior if you don't count less than a handful of complaints about a meet & greet and this whole Art Of Anarchy debacle.



But yeah, anything to vilify Scott Weiland at this point in time, right?

Let's only point out Scott's fuck ups and few bad shows, when they were very few and far between.

Take out the possibility of sharing needles, what it might be cut with, and the general variation in potency, and alcohol is much more damaging to the human body than heroin. Medically pure heroin is much less damaging to the human body than drinking.


I am assuming that Scott paid top dollar for his heroin, so he got as much consistency has possible, and I am guessing he didn't share needles.


So what he is doing now is actually worse for him.

These are wonderful assumptions you're making. And very likely way off base.


And we're just assuming Scott's downing bottle after bottle of booze and prescription drugs while we're at it?


Like Dean said "with fans like these....."

The science outweighs government propaganda at this point. Heroin is morphine with two added acetyl groups so it passes the blood-brain barrier faster. Once it does, our bodies metabolize heroin as what it is--morphine.

If the propaganda of the last 100 years were true, just about everyone who received morphine for pain in the hospital would be addicted and need to get their "fix" upon being released. But that doesn't happen.

Heroin, which we're told can hook most people at one drop, actually has an addiction rate that caps at about 20%. However, that is kind of lying by omission because we know that addiction actually has more to do with your environment than it does with your body or chemical dependence. Our old ideas about addiction put rats in cages with a choice of water or heroin-laced water. The rats would take the heroin water until they died.

But, if you put a rat in a fun cage with other rats to have sex with, wheels, food, balls to push around, rats almost never take the heroin water. We saw this happen during Vietnam when marijuana laws were enforced, so our troops over there resorted to using heroin. Instead of a bunch of soldiers coming back as addicts, over 90% of them quit using within a year of returning to the US. Their "cage" had changed.

What we've also found is that the correlation between addictive behavior and child abuse is stronger than the correlation between obesity and heart disease.

What this means is that Scott is a prime candidate for abuse and addiction. He was raped as a child, and he when he was super famous, he spent 22 hours a day on the road, trying to live anonymously. For the other 2 hours, he was getting a "high" performing on stage. Take the abuse, the 22 hour cage, and trying to get the feeling he gets the other two hours, it's not a surprise that Scott has addictive tendencies.

As far as heroin goes, we know what the most damaging drugs are. Heroin is number two. Alcohol is number one. But the most dangerous part about heroin is a) what it is cut with, and b) its unpredictable potency. These are both byproducts of its illegality. It does not do near the damage to human organs that alcohol does.

Scott is not "sober," but 12 step is not going to help him. The most current science on the subject suggests that abusers be taught that they do have control over their use. Telling users that don't have control--which is what 12 step programs do--actually hurts more people than it helps.

No, no, no. Please read the forum rules. Rule #1, no rational thoughts backed up by science or fact

[EyesOfDisarray]

While I agree with Richard Patrick's sentiments, I'm not sure it's helpful to address it in the way he has. Also, I don't think Scott's a bad guy. From his response, I feel like he's trying to be sincere, but I'm just not convinced he's telling the truth 100%. I'll buy that he hasn't shot up, but beyond that who knows what the reality is. I think he's convinced himself of some things that are probably somewhat removed from reality.

[StoneTempleBrett]

“For years I’ve known goddamn well that I’m a drunk, but who wants to admit that? After kicking the strong stuff, why couldn’t I have a little drink now and then? What harm was there in a small indulgence? The answer was serious harm – potentially fatal harm. For me, putting a drink in my mouth is something like putting a lead blanket over my heart. There’s been so much pain in the past few years that I’m afraid to feel, or commit. I pray that this will end. I don’t want to be alone anymore. I want to be able to love again. The dream of every drunk – to be able to manage their drinking – is one that has died hard for me. My prayer is that, once and for all, that dream is dead. So I’m back to counting days. It’s nearly been two months since I’ve had a drink. By the time you read this book, my hope is that it will be six months.”

-Scott Weiland, Early 2011

[The Legacy]

“For years I’ve known goddamn well that I’m a drunk, but who wants to admit that? After kicking the strong stuff, why couldn’t I have a little drink now and then? What harm was there in a small indulgence? The answer was serious harm – potentially fatal harm. For me, putting a drink in my mouth is something like putting a lead blanket over my heart. There’s been so much pain in the past few years that I’m afraid to feel, or commit. I pray that this will end. I don’t want to be alone anymore. I want to be able to love again. The dream of every drunk – to be able to manage their drinking – is one that has died hard for me. My prayer is that, once and for all, that dream is dead. So I’m back to counting days. It’s nearly been two months since I’ve had a drink. By the time you read this book, my hope is that it will be six months.”

-Scott Weiland, Early 2011

Ask him about it during your interview