Jelly Roll testified at a Senate hearing Thursday, January 11, on the fentanyl crisis and his desire to be part of a solution.
“I think it’s important to note before I start that in these five minutes I’ll be speaking, that somebody in the United States will die of a drug overdose and it is almost a 72% chance that during those five minutes, it will be fentanyl-related,” Jelly said in the opening of his speech.
“It is important to establish earlier that I am a musician and that I have no political alliance. I am neither Democrat nor Republican. In fact, because of my past, my right to vote has been restricted,” he prefaced. “Thus far, I have never paid attention to a political race in my life. Ironically, I think that makes me the perfect person to speak about this because fentanyl transcends partisanship and ideology, gentlemen and women.”
Jelly provided a jarring statistic on the fentanyl crisis.
“190 people a day overdose and die every single day in the United States of America,” he shared. “That’s what about a 737 aircraft can carry. Could you imagine the national media attention it would get if they were reporting that a plane was crashing every single day and killing 190 people?”
The “Save Me” singer underscored the universality of loss through addiction and why he’s stepping forward.
“I was a part of the problem. I am here now standing as a man that wants to be a part of the solution. I brought my community down. I hurt people,” said the ex-drug dealer.
“It is time for us to be proactive and not reactive. We were reactive with crack, we were reactive with opioid,” Jelly added.
You can watch Jelly’s full speech now at c-span.org.
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