British music legend Sir Elton John has been named Time’s Icon of the Year for 2024, and he has not minced words when explaining his stance against the legality of marijuana in America and Canada.
“I maintain that it’s addictive,” he said in the new interview. “It leads to other drugs. And when you’re stoned – and I’ve been stoned – you don’t think normally. Legalizing marijuana in America and Canada is one of the greatest mistakes of all time.”
He refers to the fact that more than 20 US states have legalised recreational marijuana for adults. More states allow its medical use.
Cannabis remains illegal federally, but the Justice Department recently proposed reclassifying it. In Canada, cannabis was fully legalised for both recreational and medical use in October 2018.
The 77-year-old singer has been sober since 1990.
“It’s tough to tell someone that they’re being an asshole, and it’s tough to hear,” John said. “Eventually I made the choice to admit that I’m being an asshole.”
“You make terrible decisions on drugs,” he added. “I wanted love so badly, I’d just take hostages. I’d see someone I liked and spend three or four months together, and then they would resent me because they had nothing in their life apart from me. It really upsets me, thinking back on how many people I probably hurt.”
Regarding his Icon of the Year status, Dua Lipa, who collaborated with John on the hit ‘Cold Heart’, told Time: “Singing alongside one of my musical heroes was a no-brainer. His music has been able to soundtrack my life from the very beginning.”
Breakout artist Chappell Roan also offered praise, saying that John has been a key mentor to her, calling him “one of the original queens.”
“The advice he gave me was that the songs will come,” said Roan, adding that John spoke of the period after his first album. “He thought that he wouldn’t have the ideas, but they were absolutely there. He just had to let them come to him. So that’s a good reminder.”
