Brian Cox

Actor Brian Cox on new show Addicted to Pleasure and why drugs in Scotland should be legalised
Dundee-born Cox admitted he smoked opium on a trip to India in the 1980s, and that he enjoyed taking the highly addictive drug.

Actor Brian Cox presents new BBC programme Addicted to Pleasure.

Scots actor Brian Cox has revealed he smoked opium and called for the legalisation of hard drugs in Scotland.
The Dundee-born Hollywood star says “everything” should be legalised if the government has any hope of getting on top of the country’s drug problem.
Cox admitted he smoked opium on a trip to India in the 1980s, and that he enjoyed taking the highly addictive drug.
He said: “I used to be very down on drugs. I tried marijuana occasionally, but I was never really into it. I was in India touring with a play and I thought I would experiment and see what it was like. So I went to an opium den.
“It was great, very beatific. I got my feet massaged and had two great hours there. But I never did it again because what eventually happens is that pleasure decreases as want increases. Want becomes the thing that drives you, not the pleasure. You can never recreate that first fix. Once it’s over it’s over. But that’s why people get into a spiral, especially with heroin.”

Brian Cox looks at addictions of all kind in the new programme.

Cox was speaking ahead of Addicted to Pleasure, a four part documentary series he’s presenting on BBC Scotland. It addresses our nation’s addictions to sugar, alcohol, tobacco and opium.
The X Men II star blamed Scotland’s addiction issues on the relocation projects of the 1960s, which saw whole communities decanted from city centre environments to housing schemes.
He said: “Environment and drugs go hand in hand. We have created these appalling environments for people to live in, especially the housing schemes which are a hotbed for drugs.
“We took people away from towns with structure to schemes with no structure. Now there are four generations of addicts. We moved people into these areas and they have a lack of functionality, which leads to negativity, loss of self esteem and self worth. They’re thwarted people, and they take drugs for the lack of something.
“Taking something like heroin helps them deal with that.
 “Everything should be made available, but monitored, of course. Prohibition is a problem. Look at any prohibition era in history.  Al Capone and the rest made a lot of money there. It’s the same today with drug dealers. We need to try to get people’s self worth and sense of empowerment back again.”
Addicted to Pleasure is on Monday, 26 November BBC at 9pm on BBC1.

Source (including photos): Daily Record