Elton John believes America has made ‘one of the worst decisions of all time’ after a bold legal transformation

Music icon Elton John has spoken out about the marijuana debate in the US, calling the drug addictive and deeming legalization a mistake.

The “Benny and the Jets” singer told Time Magazine, which named him Icon of the Year: “Legalizing marijuana in America and Canada is one of the biggest mistakes of all time.”

The EGOT winner, who has been sober since 1990, called the drug “addictive” and said using cannabis leads to the use of other drugs.

While legalization advocates have long argued that cannabis is not addictive or harmful, but rather beneficial, a growing number of researchers and doctors point to the harms associated with the drug, including psychosis and brain damage.

A growing body of research has found that an estimated 16 million Americans qualify as addicted to marijuana.

Mr John said marijuana was a constant in his early career, with his band smoking for “years” in the 1970s before his manager introduced him to cocaine, although he has not indicated that his marijuana use influenced his transition to cocaine.

The belief that marijuana is a gateway drug dates back to the 1980s and is still held by millions of people from an older generation, although numerous studies have shown this to be untrue.

The legalization of marijuana for recreational use in 24 states and Washington, DC has been celebrated by millions of people, but it is being viewed with caution by mental health and addiction experts, who have consistently pointed out the inadequate research into the Schedule One drug that has failed to understand whether it is as effective as it is harmless, as its proponents say.

Music icon Elton John has weighed in on the marijuana debate in the US, describing the drug as addictive and labeling its legalization a mistake

Recreational marijuana is legal in 24 states, although others have legalized it for medicinal purposes only

The musician has struggled with drug addiction since the 1970s, admitting in his 2012 memoir that he spent much of the 1980s “in and out of a drug-fueled haze.”

Since getting sober, he has offered to help other high-profile faces, including Eminem, Robbie Williams and Lady Gaga.

He said it was his own struggle with drugs, as well as his involvement in the lives and problems of others, that changed his views on legal cannabis and its potential as an invitation to try even harder drugs.

“It leads to other drugs,” Mr. John told Time. “And when you’re stoned – and I’m stoned – you don’t think normally.”

Marijuana has been called a ‘gateway drug’ for years, a hypothesis that, according to psychiatrists from all over the world, has not yet been convincingly proven.

Various studies from 2000 decisions that ‘a large proportion, but not all, of individuals who use cannabis go on to use other illicit drugs.’

A 2016 report published in the International Journal of Drug Policy found that about 45 percent of people who have ever used cannabis have used other illicit drugs at some point in their lives.

In the second year after first using cannabis, they were less than nine percent likely to try other illicit drugs.

The singer of ‘Benny and the Jets’ [center] his own history of substance abuse and his experiences with others have shaped his views on legal marijuana. He is pictured with Cher and Diana Ross in 1975, about a year after Mr John came into contact with cocaine

The link between recreational marijuana use and alcohol use in recent years has been greatest among younger adults aged 18 to 24

On the other hand: a questionnaire from the US Addiction Centers found that, after alcohol, marijuana and tobacco were widely used as the second and third drugs of choice.

The hitmaker’s perspective is a minority view in the US, where the Pew Research Center reported that 29 percent of Americans believed legal access to marijuana would increase the use of other drugs, such as heroin, fentanyl and cocaine, while 42 percent said this would increase the use of other drugs. no impact.

Meanwhile, marijuana dependence is receiving more attention from researchers.

About 30 percent of current smokers, long thought not to be addictive, meet the criteria for addiction, in part because the weed of the 1920s is much more potent than that of the 1990s, with smokable products producing as many as 25 percent THC.

And the number of regular users is on the rise. A 2019 federal survey found that 31.6 million people ages 12 and older used marijuana in the past 30 days, up from about 22 million five years earlier.

In 2023, that figure rose to 61 million people.