Nikki Sixx says drugs don't help artists and, in fact, kill their creativity.
Sixx appeared on MSNBC’s The Beat With Ari Melber this week to talk about the opioid crisis in America, how he's dealt with addiction, and how sobriety can give more energy and creativity.
The 58-year-old recalled that in the depths of his heroin dependence, he wasn't able to work at all.
"I was thinking about 1987 and how I was barely able to get an album done and a tour,” the former Mötley Crüe bassist told Melber. "And, actually, the tour was canceled, the last part of the tour.
"And in 2017, I'm able to do a radio show, write books, do photography, be a better husband, a father, and be part of these conversations that are happening. So I really think that sobriety gives you more energy and more creativity.”
Sixx has been open about his struggles with drugs over the years and has recently become more outspoken about the need to fight the heroin epidemic.
He said he shudders at the thought of where he would be if in the '80s he had access to powerful prescription opioids that are so prevalent today as painkillers.
“When I was coming up, so far as I know, there were no pill forms of heroin. If there were, I was never introduced to it, thank God.”
He added that today, many people turn to heroin when prescription painkillers become too expensive.
"When people can’t get these pills, they’re then going to the street," he said. "Then you’re dealing with needles and unregulated drugs, and you have a lot of overdoses there as well with the medications being prescribed.”
The 10th Anniversary edition of Sixx's book The Heroin Diaries will be released Oct. 27. Along with a new introduction, the rocker has released the "Heroin Diaries Heatmap," a place where people can share their stories of survival and explore the shocking realities of the current state of the opioid crisis.
Original article by Sam Valorose and Andrew Magnotta at iHeartRadio