Doherty: Rehab better than jail
2009-03-13 18:00
London - Pete Doherty only checks into rehab to stay out of jail.
The Babyshambles singer thinks addiction programmes are "impossibly dull" and should be avoided at all costs.
"When I go to rehab, it's usually because I've been given the choice of rehab or jail. When you're there, it's not even giving up drugs that's hard, it's that you have to give up everything," he said.
"If you could sit there and read a book it would be fine, but you're not allowed to do anything other than focus on your recovery. I was only allowed to play my guitar once a week."
Although he finds rehab insufferable, the 30-year-old musician - who is about to release his new album Grace/Wastelands - says it has finally helped him beat his addictions to crack cocaine and heroin.
Drug use was frequent and horrifying
"Right now, I'm clean as a whistle. I think it's all about my confidence. With the new album, it's all quite mellow, and I'm a shy man," he told Shortlist magazine.
"When you're wasted it becomes even more petrifying to go out with just an acoustic guitar. When you're in that place, it's easier to hide behind a massive wall of noise. That's not there right now."
But just a few months ago, Pete - who now prefers to be called Peter - says his drug use was frequent and horrifying.
"I get very paranoid. There was the time I thought terrorists were on my roof, trying to break in. You can laugh, but it was scary. In my mind they were outside trying to get me.
"When you have the crack shakes, you think everyone you know is going to kill you."