Jelly Roll deliver testimony at Senate hearing on fentanyl bill

[0:00] to having a rock and roll band behind me when i have a microphone in front of me [0:04] um during the time that i've been given to share my testimony here i think it's important to note [0:10] before i start that in these five minutes i'll be speaking that somebody in the united states will [0:15] die of a drug overdose and it is almost a 72 chance that during those five minutes it will [0:20] be fentanyl related having started that way chairman brown ranking member scott and esteemed [0:25] committee members thank you for having me i know this is a bit of a curveball but i like a little [0:29] baseball myself my name is jason d4 but to most i am known as jelly roll i it is important to [0:37] establish earlier that i am a musician and that i have no political alliance i am neither democrat [0:42] nor republican in fact because of my past my right to vote has been restricted thus far i have never [0:48] paid attention to a political race in my life ironically i think that makes me the perfect [0:53] person to speak about this because fentanyl transcends partisanship and ideology gentlemen [0:59] and women this is a [1:01] totally different problem and i was speaking outside to the media and i gave them a statistic [1:09] that said 190 people a day overdose and die every single day in the united states of america [1:14] that is about a 737 plane that's what about a 737 aircraft can carry could you imagine the national [1:22] media attention it would get if they were reporting that a plane was crashing every [1:26] single day and killing 190 people but because it's 190 drug addicts we don't feel that way [1:34] because [1:35] america has been known to bully and shame drug addicts instead of dealing and trying to understand [1:41] what the actual root of the problem is with that but the sad news is that that narrative is changing [1:47] too because the statistics say that in all likelihood almost every person in this room has [1:53] lost a friend family member or colleague to the disease known as addiction i've attended more [2:03] funerals and i care to share with y'all this committee i could sit here and cry for days about [2:07] the caskets i've carried of the drug addicts and drug addicts and drug addicts and drug addicts and [2:09] drug addicts and drug addicts and people during this time and because look though now [2:12] i'm adored loudly deeply if i say someone highly adored of people i loved dearly deeply in my soul [2:15] good people not just drug addicts not just drug addicts [2:16] uncles friends cousins normal people some people that just got in a car wreck and started taking [2:23] a pain pill to management one thing led to the other one how fast it spirals out of control [2:28] how fast it spirals out of control i don't think people truly truly understand so many people [2:36] equally i think it's important for me to tell y'all that i'm not here to defend [2:39] the use of illegal drugs and i also understand the paradox of my performance in this society [2:44] history as a drug dealer standing in front of this committee. But equally, I think that's what [2:49] makes me perfect to talk about this. I was a part of the problem. I am here now standing as a man [2:55] that wants to be a part of the solution. I brought my community down. I hurt people. I was the [3:01] uneducated man in the kitchen playing chemist with drugs I knew absolutely nothing about, [3:06] just like these drug dealers are doing right now when they're mixing every drug on the market with [3:10] fentanyl and they're killing the people we love. I'll be honest with y'all. My desire is to only [3:19] get older and only do better and be better. I believed when I sold drugs genuinely that [3:24] selling drugs was a victimless crime. I truly believe that, y'all. My father always told me [3:31] what doesn't get you in the wash will get you in the rinse. Now I have a 15-year-old daughter [3:34] whose mother is a drug addict. Every day I get to look in the eyes of a victim in my household [3:39] of the effects of drugs every single day. And every single day I have to wonder if me and [3:45] my family are the same. I have to wonder if my family are the same. I have to wonder if my [3:45] family are the same. I have to wonder if my family are the same. I have to wonder if my family are the [3:45] same. I have to wonder if my family are the same. I have to wonder if my family are the [4:00] same. And at that moment, even as a teenager, you could have never convinced me in that moment [4:03] that there would be a far bigger problem on the horizon in the form of a pharmaceutical drug. [4:08] And then I watched opioids and OxyContin burst onto the scene. [4:13] I'm here to tell y'all that fentanyl is going to make the Sackler family [4:17] live. And I'm here to tell y'all that fentanyl is going to make the Sackler family live. [4:17] look like saints. And I want to let y'all sit with that for a second. It is time for us to be [4:25] proactive and not reactive. We were reactive with crack. We were reactive with opioids. And y'all [4:30] are taking the first step. It's somebody in Senate finally being proactive. I truly believe in my [4:36] heart that this bill, that this bill will stop the supply and can help stop the supply of fentanyl. [4:41] But in part of being proactive, gentlemen and women and ladies, I have to be frank and tell [4:47] y'all that if we don't talk to the other side of Capitol Hill and stop the demand, [4:50] we are going to spin our tires in the mud. Y'all are taking the first step, but I encourage you to [4:55] take it outside of this room and you take it to your colleagues and your constituents and you [4:59] give them the most that you can. I know I've got a few seconds here and Senator Brown said I may or [5:04] may not go over. All I want to say is that I not only encourage y'all to do this, I encourage y'all [5:12] to take it a step further. At every concert I perform, I witnessed the heartbreaking impact [5:17] of fentanyl. I see fans grappling with this tragedy in the form of music that they seek [5:22] solace in. I see fans grappling with this tragedy in the form of music that they seek solace in. [5:23] music and hope that their experiences won't befall others. Our shareholders crave reassurance [5:31] and that their elected officials acctually care more about human life than ideology and [5:36] partisanship. [5:40] I stand here as a regular member of society, I am a stupid songwriter y'all. & but have [5:45] firsthand witnessed this in a way most people have not. [5:48] I encourage y'all to not only pass this bill but to bring it up where it matters at the [5:53] at the kitchen table. [5:55] Thank you for your time. [5:56] Thank you, Mr. D. Ford.