Look all joking aside, we have known a lot of musicians who have done the hardest of hardcore drugs. Seen or witnessed them doing the drugs and seen the devastating effects they had over their lives.

Drugs go with Rock N' Roll and they can't be separated. Phil Anselmo was a known junkie, gakked out on heroin. He recently spoke with a class at Loyola University in New Orleans,  Louisiana. Blabbermouth.net transcribed the interview, but it is too powerful not to post.

On whether it was his will that eventually got him to stop picking up the needle or stop using altogether:

Anselmo: "That's a tough question right there. Once you close the door and slide that needle in, heroin is the great controller of all — every single goddamn thing you do. The way you sleep, the way you wake up in the morning and your hands reach over pathetically to get your first fix of the day, which gets you out of bed. As a matter of fact, heroin, in a nutshell... When I say it controls everything, I mean everything. People think painkillers and things like that are only numbing out pain?! You take them for long enough, they start numbing out your emotion, man. And once your emotion is numbed out, then you are controlled. It's got you. It's the most important thing in your life, whether it be this tiny little pill or this funny dust. And you're trading your family, your brothers and your sisters, the brothers and sisters you call friends on the street — lifelong friends — you'll stab them in the back, you'll break their hearts, and you won't even know it."

"You're not getting high anymore. It's fear that controls you. Because once you start chasing your own tail... There's two points here. Especially as a musician, once you start something — a band; something that's from your heart, something that's organic, from you — and I was lucky enough to have this success... I don't know about luck; I broke my back for what I believed in. I bled for my music, man. But heroin... when I say it controls all, I wasn't singing anymore about levels of confidence and power and walking and all these songs of positivity, I was singing about dope. It even comes out in your lyrics, man; it comes out in your music. You go back and listen to it, and it's like, 'Oh, my God.' You lost yourself. Yup, you sure did. You chase your tail. It's fear. The junkie fears the sickness, the illness, 'cause dope-sick ain't fun, bro. It's miserable. And the only thing that cleans it up and fixes it up is more dope. Unless you are genius enough — like I was — to start taking methadone. Once you start taking methadone, it's over for 90 percent of people. They live their lives to wake up at 9 a.m., go to the methadone clinic, their dose and go on about their lives. What happens when [hurricane] Katrina hits and then methadone clinics were closed? I'll tell you what happens. You go into the worst detox — crippling detox... I had a friend of mine who was thrown in jail during Katrina, and he was on... whatever milligram... It doesn't matter how many milligrams you're on; you're on it. He had to detox in jail, and he was so goddamn pathetic, they had to throw him in the hole by himself — take him out of the populace. The only way I can describe coming off methadone is falling from a 50-story building every three minutes of your life. Every three minutes of your life is terrifying. That's why people can't come off. You get me? It's fear. . . Once you start chasing your tail, no matter how great you were, how great you are, or whatever you think... it don't matter what the magazines say, it don't matter what your fans say; it matters what's going on with you. There's two points: high and sick. High and sick. What happens in between? Huh? Fucking zero. Zero. Lest you're out on the road, like me, and you've gotta get up in front of 20,000 people and make a rolicking ass of yourself. And get judged in print — your whole life. Microcosm in some crappy, glossy-page metal magazine. That ain't no epitaph, bro. That ain't no epitaph, ladies and gents. No way."

On how long he's been sober:

Anselmo: "Sober is a harsh word." [Interviewer clarifies: "When was the last time you picked up the needle."] "Now that is a hardcore story. I was with a friend of mine. I was home with dope. This was 2002, or 2003... I'm not gonna guess anymore, but somewhere around there. And this friend of mine, we used to party back in the day — shoot dope all the time. This guy was a little bit of a follower. Smart guy. Extremely talented. Anyway, me and him were together, we were speeding down the highway — a pitch-dark highway in Louisiana somewhere on our way to a gig. And there's two guys driving upfront. And he tells me, 'Man, I'd like to party tonight.' And I'm sitting there thinking to myself, 'Wow, it's been awhile, man. You sure? You sure?' 'Yeah, I'm sure.' So, me being the medical genius I am back then, I gave him what I'd call a 'pussy shot' — a little bit; just a little touch. And I injected him. I asked him, 'How're you feeling, bro?' And he was, like, [speaking slowly], 'Good, man.' Someone upfront asked me a question — just like that; that quick — and I turned around, I answered, I turned back around, and this dude was stiff, his eyes were closed and his lips were like that [pushing his lips together], tight. And I said, 'Hey!' I called his name several times. No answer. Boom. I'm freaking out. I grab this dude, and he is as rigid as rigor mortis. And I'm grabbing him and I'm shaking him and shaking him and I'm pulling his beard and I'm slapping his face, and I grabbed the ice cooler and I reached down his damn pants, I'm putting ice down his pants. My friend, who I've known since I was 16 years old, is overdosing. Ain't no damn hospital! Speeding down the back roads of Louisiana. I'm looking around and I'm freaking. I don't know where to tell these guys to drive, and my friend, he's dead. I freaked out and I went [makes punching motion] right in his chest. Boom. His eyes popped open. One pupil was looking this way and the other one this way — kind of like the actor Marty Feldman. And I was scared, man. He wasn't back yet, man; he looked crazy. I was thinking brain damage, retardation... I didn't know what was going on, [so] I hit him again. And his eyes went right back together. And I'm like, 'Oh, my God.' I stayed awake with him all night long. He was sleepy. Kept trying to dose off. Probably still loaded. Boom, I'd kick him. We got back to my house. I laid him out on my sofa. We stayed up 'till the sun came up. I stayed up with him. I wouldn't let him go to sleep. And this whole time, I'm sitting there thinking to myself, 'I just killed my best friend and brought him back to life.' No, I ain't a saint. I ain't no saint, man. I'm the king of liars. I'm the king of deceit. It's what heroin makes you. It's what dope makes you. Cocaine, heroin... whatever. They all go hand in hand. They're all in the same boat, and that boat sinks. It's got holes in it. And that was the last time I ever picked that damn needle up. That was the last time I did heroin."

You can read more of the transcript here and I definitely urge you to. They also have the video of Phil talking to the class, which is even more compelling.