Rapper and country music star Jason DeFord, known on the stage as Jelly Roll, pleaded with Congress on Thursday to pass a stronger law against fentanyl.
In front of the Housing and Urban Affairs Committee’s “Stopping the Flow of Fentanyl: Public Awareness and Legislative Solutions” hearing, Mr. DeFord emphasized the human cost of the drug crisis.
“I’ve attended more funerals than I care to share with y’all,” he said. “I could sit here and cry for days about the caskets I’ve carried of the people I love dearly, deeply, in my soul.”
He opened up about his personal connection to the drug, citing his history of dealing opioids and drug-related arrests. He acknowledged he was part of the problem, saying he once believed drug dealing was a victimless crime.
“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,” Mr. DeFord said. “And they’re killing the people we love.”
Ultimately, he was there to push Congress to pass the FEND off Fentanyl Act, an anti-money laundering and sanctions bill aimed at the drug’s major illegal traffickers. The law would declare “the international trafficking of fentanyl is a national emergency.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, over 150 people die from fentanyl overdoses per day, with more than 112,000 dying from the drug in the 12 months up to last May.
• Vaughn Cockayne can be reached at vcockayne@washingtontimes.com.
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