Jelly Roll Testifies in Congress to Advance Anti-Fentanyl Legislation
Jelly Roll appeared in front of Congress on Thursday, testifying in an effort to advance anti-fentanyl legislation amid the ongoing drug problem in the United States. The singer served as a witness during a hearing, “Stopping the Flow of Fentanyl: Public Awareness and Legislative Solutions,” supporting Senator Sherrod Brown’s (D-OH) bipartisan Fentanyl Eradication and Narcotics Deterrence (FEND) Off Fentanyl Act.
A moving testimony: Beginning his address by sharing some statistics, Jelly Roll, real name Jason DeFord, noted that during the five minutes he would be speaking, someone in the U.S. would die of a drug overdose, likely related to fentanyl. The singer added that he has no political leanings, which made him “the perfect person to speak about this because fentanyl transcends partisanship and ideology.”
"I am here to address a dire crisis crippling our nation, one that has likely claimed the life of a friend, child, or relative of nearly everyone in this room," he said. "The opioid epidemic, especially the devastation caused by fentanyl, demands immediate action. It is a national emergency. Americans are dying every day, and at a staggering rate."
Jelly Roll is a former drug dealer and told the Senate, Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee that while once part of the problem, he now hopes to be part of the solution to the drug problem plaguing the country.
"I brought my community down. I hurt people," he recalled. "I was the uneducated man in the kitchen playing chemists with drugs I knew absolutely nothing about, just like these drug dealers are doing right now when they're mixing every drug on the market with fentanyl. And they're killing the people we love."
Adding that he was not defending illegal drug use, he expressed his support for the bill and said that "the essential truth is that enacting legislation to combat the supply and distribution of fentanyl will save lives."
Firsthand witness: The Tennessee native testified about how the fentanyl crisis has affected him on a personal level, sharing that he has "attended more funerals than I care to share with y’all" and "could sit here and cry for days about the caskets I've carried of people I've loved dearly, deeply, in my soul."
He also discussed his fans and how he sees "the heartbreaking impact of fentanyl" at every one of his shows. "I see fans grappling with this tragedy in the form of music, that they seek solace in music and hope that their experiences won’t befall others," he said. "They crave reassurance. These are the people I’m here to speak for. These people crave reassurance that their elected officials actually care more about human life than they do about ideology and partisanship."