Macklemore addresses his drug addiction during Pres. Obamas weekly address
Macklemore lent both his voice and testimony about his struggles with addiction to President Obama’s Weekly Address over the weekend. Macklemore, who is a recovering addict from both alcohol and pain killers, spoke not only of his battles but also the loss of his friend who died at age 21 from an opioid overdose. Although the president and Macklemore praised recent House supported bills on opioid use, they stressed the need for further funding for treatment and education to address this nationwide issue.
Grammy Award-winning rapper and Seattle native Macklemore joined President Barack Obama in the president’s weekly address to discuss drug addiction and call for politicians to fund recovery programs.
“So addiction doesn’t always start in some dark alley — it often starts in a medicine cabinet,” Obama said.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed several bills during the past week to fight opioid addiction, but the Obama administration says the legislation does not provide enough money to expand treatment.
Macklemore, 32, whose real name is Ben Haggerty, has been open about his prescription-drug and alcohol addictions. He was first arrested at 15 and ended up in King County Juvenile Drug Court. He entered rehab in 2008. During the Saturday address, he mentioned his friend Kevin, who died at 21 from an overdose of painkillers.
The hip-hop artist is sober, but his struggle with addiction is an ongoing process, he’s said previously.
“Addiction is like any other disease — it doesn’t discriminate,” Macklemore said during the address. “It doesn’t care what color you are, whether you’re a guy or a girl, rich or poor, whether you live in the inner city, a suburb, or rural America. This doesn’t just happen to other people’s kids or in some other neighborhood. It can happen to any of us.”
Macklemore is “an advocate who’s giving voice to a disease we too often whisper about: the disease of addiction,” Obama said.
As Obama cites, the CDC says opioid overdose fatalities, including heroin, have increased 200% since 2000 and have overtaken traffic related deaths. The main push of Obama and Macklemore’s message is that the bills passed so far do not cover treatment – especially on-going – for addicts; an issue close to Macklemore who relapsed with sleeping pills just two years ago. They also stress the need for education for doctors about the administering and weaning off of these drugs.
CB’s post on Jamie Lee Curtis last week made opioid addiction personal for me. Jamie’s description of her suffering reshaped the pain killer addict in my mind from a faceless abuser to sounding like a handful of people I may know. I am now paying much more attention to the discussions surrounding opioid treatment.
To end on a lighter note, after he sat down with the president, Macklemore’s mother, Julie Schott, talked him into crashing a wedding in DC.
Here is the Weekly Address: A Conversation About Addiction:
Photo credit: Fame/Flynet and WENN Photos and Snapchat
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