Jourgensen's Heroin Wake-Up Call

Ministry frontman Al Jourgensen knew it was time to stop taking heroin when doctors amputated his toe and he came close to losing an arm.

The Fall rocker had spent all of his money and pawned all of his guitars except one to buy heroin by the end of his 20-year addiction - and he realised he had to quit the narcotic if he wanted to live.

He says, "I was sleeping on some heroin dealers couch and I got this spider bite. The doctor wanted to take my f**king arm off. I was at death's door; I'd gone through all my savings and pawned off all but one of my guitars. I'd hit rock bottom.

"I'd also stepped on the tip of a broken hypodermic needle when I was using. The needle tip went up into my boot, and the wound got infected. It went gangrenous so they had to amputate.

"A light bulb went on over my head and it all made sense. If you want to die, die today. Trust me there were lots of reasons to quit heroin."