Country artist Jelly Roll makes plea for anti-fentanyl legislation

Country star Jelly Roll has this week made an emotive plea to congress in the US for anti-fentanyl legislation.

The musician, real name Jason DeFord, overcame his own drug addiction and told congress that while he was “once part of the problem”, he now wanted to be “part of the solution”, and urged US lawmakers to pass an anti-fentanyl law.

Officials have said that fentanyl kills almost 200 people per day in the US and is the leading cause of deaths among American adults younger than 45 (via The Guardian). 

The drug has been in the news frequently of late, such as with the death of rapper Coolio who died after an accidental overdose involving fentanyl last year. Priscilla Presley’s son, Navarone Garibaldi, also opened up recently about his “unbearable” fentanyl addiction which he said nearly killed him and credited his mother for helping him to get clean.

Speaking to the Senate banking, housing and urban affairs committee, DeFord said: “I’ve attended more funerals than I care to share with y’all…I could sit here and cry for days about the caskets I’ve carried of people I love dearly, deeply in my soul. Good people, not just drug addicts. Uncles, friends, cousins, normal people.”

He continued: “I brought my community down. I hurt people. I was the uneducated man in the kitchen playing chemist 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.

“…I suggest that we stand up and do more as fast as we possibly can.”

Currently, congress is looking at whether or not to approve the Fentanyl Eradication and Narcotics Deterrence Off Fentanyl Act, which has also been referred to as the “Fend Off Fentanyl Act”.

The act proposes to impose sanctions and anti-money laundering strategies to stem the flow of the opioid.