MOTLEY CRUE FOUNDER NIKKI SIXX SPEAKS OUT ABOUT THE OPIOID CRISIS AND ADDICTION AWARENESS

The long in the works Motley Crue movie, The Dirt, is coming to Netflix this March, and there are hopes it could become the next Bohemian Rhapsody. The film will cover a lot of the band’s addicted and self-destructive past, which has been well documented throughout the band’s history. Motley Crue founder Nikki Sixx has always been outspoken about his past with heroin addiction and subsequent recovery, and now he’s speaking out about the current opioid crisis, and how the future Motley Crue projects will help raise addiction awareness with the public. An Experienced Advocate In addition to the Dirt movie, there is also a musical in the works of another Motley book, The Heroin Diaries. As he told Blabbermouth, “The idea is to do with The Heroin Diaries for the opiate epidemic what Rent did for AIDS and HIV- to really shine a light on it and give back to communities locally, nationally and internationally.” Sixx is hoping the musical will launch next year with backing from Live Nation and Ticketmaster. The idea is also to take the musical around the world, like a rock tour, instead of a run on Broadway or a handful of other markets. As Motley manager Allen Kovac explained, “We can now go where the crisis is…we wanna bring [it] to Europe and the rest of the world. It’s about getting awareness and taking away the stigma so that people will talk about it.” Addressing the Crisis Sixx continued that he’s glad that the word “epidemic” is being used to describe the current opioid crisis. “But I’m also very frustrated that it took us so long to get here,” Sixx continued. “The timing for us is important, meaning it has to happen now.” Having gone to the bottom of the abyss with addiction, and managing to survive it miraculously, Sixx knows from where he speaks. He easily could have been another rock n roll casualty, and nearly became one when he OD’d and had a near-death experience, an event that inspired the song Kickstart My Heart. He’s in a position to understand the nature of addiction, and back when he was suffering in the eighties, the information on how to get help wasn’t everywhere like it is today. He told The Fix, “I didn’t have a lot of information [then]. I got my information from drug dealers and prostitutes and strippers and the alternative underworld. There wasn’t like, hey Nikki, here’s a piece of paper, here’s a link. There was no link [back then]. Go on your Twitter feed and follow National Recovery Month, and you can find phone numbers. If I had those phone numbers, I don’t know if I would have gone as long with my addiction.” In the LA Times, Sixx also wrote that “Opioid abuse isn’t just making addicts sick, it’s making America sick.” The fact that one of the most notorious rock stars of the eighties is frightened about the opioid crisis in America is enough cause for concern, and thankfully, he’s trying to do something about it.