\n<\/p>\n
Jelly Roll<\/strong><\/a> has credited marijuana with keeping him \u201csober\u201d<\/a> and away from harder drugs.<\/p>\n \u201cI get in trouble for this, all the time, but my stance on marijuana will always be the same: I believe marijuana has helped me in so many regards, with my anxiety. This is a hot button topic, but, truly, marijuana has kept me sober,\u201d the \u201cWild Ones\u201d singer, 39, told A Taste of Country<\/em><\/a> in an interview published on May 24.<\/p>\n Speaking in the third person, Jelly \u2013 real name Jason DeFord \u2013 added, \u201cI think a world without weed, Jelly Roll\u2019s drinking codeine and popping Xanax and snorting cocaine again, but a world with weed, I\u2019ll be alright.\u201d<\/p>\n The 2024 CMT Performance of the Year winner acknowledged that his approach to sobriety by still using marijuana was a bit unorthodox.<\/p>\n \u201cI know that I have friends that don\u2019t do that. I have friends that are in the program that are totally against any kind of mind-altering anything. I respect that. I have so much respect for those people. That\u2019s just not how my sobriety worked out,\u201d Jelly added.<\/p>\n The \u201cSon of a Sinner\u201d singer revealed in December 2023 that he used to equate drinking with cocaine use.<\/p>\n \u201cI had to learn that you could drink alcohol without doing cocaine. It took me a long time to learn that,\u201d he told People<\/em><\/a>. \u201cI\u2019ve never said that, but that\u2019s real. There was a long time where I just assumed, when people told me they drank without doing cocaine, I was like, I thought we only drank to do cocaine.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI thought [drinking] was to make us not feel like drug addicts. Nobody wants to snort cocaine sober, then you\u2019re a drug addict. But I had to re-look at my relationship with alcohol like that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n However, the musician added that he still drank on occasion even though he was able to kick hard drugs.<\/p>\n \u201cI never really had a problem with alcohol, so I\u2019ll still have a cocktail, but very, especially this year, very seldomly. Like, special night kind of stuff, like the night of the CMAs, of course we partied. But I just try to stay away from drugs,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n Jelly acknowledged he still used alcohol and marijuana, even though he attended Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve never talked about this in interviews, but because I do drink and smoke weed, I will attend meetings occasionally. If I\u2019m really struggling with thinking of my behavioral pattern, I\u2019ll go to a meeting,\u201d he shared. \u201cI just \u2014 out of an abundance of respect for the people who really got off the drugs completely, and the alcohol and the weed \u2014 don\u2019t necessarily claim to be a part of the program, because I respect their work and I would never want to diminish it with some of my actions, but AA has done a lot for me.\u201d<\/p>\n Jelly went to jail on a crack cocaine charge<\/a> in 2008 when he was 23 years old. While he was behind bars, his daughter Bailee was born. Becoming a dad<\/a> caused him to \u200breevaluate his life and kick drugs.<\/p>\n \u201cA guard knocks on my cell door midafternoon during lockdown. He goes, \u2018You had a kid today,\u2019\u201d Jelly told Billboard<\/em><\/a> in June 2023. \u201cI\u2019ve never had nothing in life that urged me in the moment to know that I had to do something different. I have to figure this out right now.\u201d<\/p>\n Bailee\u2019s birth inspired him to change, and he was out of jail and at home with his daughter by her second birthday. The ACM Award winner also credited wife<\/a> Bunnie Xo<\/strong>, whom he married in 2016, with helping him be a hands-on dad. \u201cI would have never got custody of my daughter without her. I wouldn\u2019t have had the stability or the money,\u201d he told the publication.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n