The musician Elton John, who suffered from drug addictions during his long career, calls the legalization of cannabis a big mistake.
Elton John ended his touring career last year. ADAM VAUGHAN, EPA / AOP
Music legend Elton John calls the legalization of marijuana in North America one of the “biggest mistakes of all time.” The musician chosen as Time magazine’s icon of the year accounts for the magazine in the interview harshly about the problems of drug addiction.
John, who ended his touring career last year, has been sober for 34 years and has helped other celebrities such as Eminem and Robbie Williams recover from addiction. He himself suffered from drug addiction during his career.
– That [marihuana] leads to other drugs. When you’re in the cloud, – and I’ve been in the cloud – you don’t think normally. The legalization of marijuana in the United States and Canada is one of the biggest mistakes of all time, John tells Time.
John says that he used cocaine for the first time in the mid-1970s. He explains that his strong views on legalizing marijuana stem from his own struggles with drug addiction.
– It’s hard to tell someone they’re a jerk, and it’s a hard thing to hear. I finally decided to admit that I’m an asshole.
– It really shocks me when I think about how many people I probably hurt.
In the late 1990s, John revealed that his throat problems during a tour of Australia the previous decade were due to his use of marijuana. He says that he stopped using the substance after the doctor’s advice.
Canada limitedly legalized cannabis in 2018. In the United States, the use of cannabis for medical purposes is legal in 39 states and for recreational use in 24 states. Seven other states have decriminalized its recreational use.
In Finland, cannabis is the most used drug. Roughly 800,000 Finns have tried cannabis in their lifetime. The dried leaves and flowers of cannabis hemp are called marijuana.