Elton John has long been open about his sobriety journey and believes that certain substances are more dangerous than people believe.
In an interview with Time published on Wednesday, December 10, where John was named 2024’s Icon of the Year, the “Benny and the Jets” singer slammed the legal use of marijuana.
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“I maintain that it’s addictive,” said John. “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.”
John, 77, has been sober since 1990 and is adamant that a total elimination of substances is the only way to go in terms of sobriety. In Demi Lovato’s 2021 documentary, Dancing With the Devil, she revealed that she was drinking and smoking marijuana in moderation, which John said “doesn’t work.” Later that year, Lovato disavowed her “California sober ways” saying that “sober sober is the only way to be.”
Elsewhere in the Time interview, John shared that his spirituality has been a major source of help for him as he’s navigated sobriety for over three decades.
“I don’t really believe in the biblical God too much, but I have faith,” John said. “My higher power has been looking after me all my life; he’s got me through drugs, he’s got me through depression, he’s got me through loneliness, and he got me sober. He’s been there all the time, I think. I just didn’t acknowledge him.”
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