Elton John has strong feelings about the legalization of marijuana.
The rock star, who was named Time magazine’s Icon of the Year this week, spoke to the outlet about his storied career, which, for a period of time, was affected by his addiction to drugs and alcohol. John’s experience with addiction led to his firm stance against marijuana use.
“I maintain that itās addictive,” he said. “It leads to other drugs. And when youāre stonedāand Iāve been stonedāyou donāt think normally.”
The singer added, “Legalizing marijuana in America and Canada is one of the greatest mistakes of all time.”
ELTON JOHN HAS āLOST MY EYESIGHTā FOLLOWING SEVERE INFECTION
Elton John said that “legalizing marijuana in America and Canada is one of the greatest mistakes of all time.” (Lester Cohen/Getty Images for City of Hope)
Time reported that when John was asked if he had similar thoughts to alcohol, he paused and looked at husband David Furnish, who was also present for the interview, for help in answering. Furnish then gave an answer “suggesting that while alcohol is part of the fabric of society, there are studies that find itās much less healthy than people believe it to be.”
In 1974, the same year John released hits like “Bennie and the Jets” and “Candle in the Wind,” he was introduced to cocaine and eventually became addicted.
Elton John says marijuana “leads to other drugs. And when youāre stonedāand Iāve been stonedāyou donāt think normally.” (Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images for Disney)
“Legalizing marijuana in America and Canada is one of the greatest mistakes of all time.”
“You make terrible decisions on drugs,” he recalled. “I wanted love so badly, Iād just take hostages. Iād 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.”
Bernie Taupin, John’s longtime songwriting partner, also spoke to the outlet, saying, “I was terrified for him. It was absolutely horrible. A lot of the work that we did in the times when he was at his worst wasnāt the best of both of us.”
He added, “I wasnāt able to creatively invest any time in writing material that related to him until he actually found himself, and then it was easier for me to reflect upon it.”
Elton John performs live on “Soul Train,” episode 141 on May 17, 1975. The singer has been open about his past addiction to cocaine. (Getty Images)
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It was in 1990 when John got clean, and he has maintained his sobriety ever since. In July, he shared an Alcoholics Anonymous chip with the caption, “34 years clean and sober. My life has never been better.”
“Itās tough to tell someone that theyāre being an a–hole, and itās tough to hear,” he admitted in his interview with Time. “Eventually I made the choice to admit that Iām being an a–hole.”
The singer shared in July that he has been “clean and sober” for 34 years and his “life has never been better.” (Getty Images)
Later in the interview, John touched on sobriety again, beginning his statement with, “Iāve never lost the excitement of buying a new record, a new book, a new photograph.”
He went on to say that given the choice between never being able to play music again or never being able to listen to it, he would give up playing, saying that listening to music has been what has “kept me going.”
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John explained, “I donāt really believe in the biblical God too much, but I have faith. My higher power has been looking after me all my life; heās got me through drugs, heās got me through depression, heās got me through loneliness, and he got me sober. Heās been there all the time, I think. I just didnāt acknowledge him.”
Elton John has two sons, Elijah and Zachary, with husband David Furnish. (Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures)
He and Furnish share two sons, Zachary, born in 2010, and Elijah, born in 2013. He told Time that if he had the opportunity to give them his talent and the fame that came with it, he would not do it.
“Iāve lived an incredible life, but itās been a hell of a life, and itās been a slog,” he said. “I wouldnāt want that amount of pressure on them.”
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“If people remember that we tried to change the world a little bit, we were kind, we tried to help people,” he said, that would be good enough for him. “And then, apart from that, there was the music.”
