Jelly Roll appeared in front of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. on Thursday (Jan. 11) to testify about stopping the flow of fentanyl, serving as a witness during a hearing entitled “Stopping the Flow of Fentanyl: Public Awareness and Legislative Solutions.” Jelly Roll, whose real name is Jason DeFord, was there in support of U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown’s (D-OH) bipartisan Fentanyl Eradication and Narcotics Deterrence (FEND) Off Fentanyl Act.
Watch Jelly Roll’s Powerful Testimony In Front Of Congress Below
The Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs met in an open session, hybrid format for the hearing, which also featured Patrick Yoes, National President, Fraternal Order of Police, and Christopher J. Urben, Managing Director, Nardello & Co, and Assistant Special Agent in Charge (Retired), Special Operations Division, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, as witnesses.
Noting that he was “used to having a rock and roll band behind me when I have a microphone in front of me,” Jelly Roll begin his testimony by noting that during the five minutes he would be speaking, someone in the United States would die of a drug overdose and that there was almost a 72% chance that death would be fentanyl related. Rahul Gupta, MD, MPH, the leader of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, shared last year that one American dies of a drug overdose “nearly every five minutes.”
Jelly Roll told the committee that he has “no political alliance” and his right to vote has been restricted because of his past (Jelly Roll was arrested at age 16 for aggravated robbery and given a felony charge that is still on his record due to Tennessee’s zero-forgiveness policy for felony offenders), making him “the perfect person to speak about this because fentanyl transcends partisanship and ideology.”
190 People Per Day Overdose And Die In The USA, According To Statistics
The “NEED A FAVOR” singer revealed that he had told media outside the hearing that 190 people per day overdose and die in the United States, around the capacity of a 737 plane. “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?” Jelly Roll asked. “But because it’s 190 drug addicts, we don’t feel that way. Because America has been known to bully and shame drug addicts instead of dealing and trying to understand what the actual root of the problem is with that.”
He added that “the sad news is that that narrative is changing too, because the statistics say that in all likelihood, almost every person in this room has lost a friend, family member or colleague to the disease known as addiction.”
The Tennessee native shared that he has “attended more funerals than I care to share with y’all” and has lost a number of people dear to him due to addiction.
“Good people, not just drug addicts,” he continued. “Uncles, friends, cousins, normal people, some people that just got in a car wreck and started taking a pain pill to manage it and one thing led to the other. How fast it spirals out of control, I don’t think people truly, truly understand.”
Admits He Was Part Of The Problem, But Now Wants To Be Part Of The Solution
Jelly Roll pointed out that he is not defending the use of illegal drugs, and understands the paradox of his own history as a drug dealer. “I was a part of the problem,” he admitted. “I am here now standing as a man that wants to be a part of the solution.”
As a drug dealer, Jelly Roll described himself as “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.”
He also shared a personal story of his 15-year-old daughter Bailee Ann, whose mother is a drug addict, and Jelly Roll told the committee about his daily fear that that would be the day he has to tell Bailee “that her mother became a part of the national statistics.”
The 39-year-old recounted a brief history of the drug crisis in America beginning with crack cocaine before moving into opioids and OxyContin and later fentanyl, urging lawmakers to “be proactive and not reactive.”

Witnesses The Impact Of Fentanyl At Each And Every One Of His Concerts
Jelly Roll ended his testimony by recalling 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. 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. I stand here as a regular member of society [and] I am a stupid songwriter, but I have firsthand witnessed this in a way most people have not.”
“I encourage y’all to not only pass this bill, but I encourage you to bring it up where it matters at the kitchen table,” he concluded. “Thank you for your time.”