Jelly Roll, the rapper and country music star, spoke to U.S. lawmakers on Thursday about the impact of fentanyl.

The performer, whose real name is Jason DeFord, is now an advocate for victims of heroin and fentanyl.

Jelly Roll called on Congress, per Yahoo!, to “be proactive and not reactive” to fentanyl deaths. He urged lawmakers to pass the FEND Off Fentanyl Act, legislation that targets Chinese chemical suppliers and Mexican drug cartels who are trafficking fentanyl with sanctions.

“I truly believe in my heart that this bill, that this bill will stop the supply and can help stop the supply of fentanyl,” Jelly Roll, who talked about his past conviction for drug dealing, told Senate Banking Committee. “But in part of being proactive, gentlemen and women and ladies, I have to be frank and tell you all that if we don’t talk to the other side of Capitol Hill and stop the demand, we are going to spin our tires in the mud. Y’all are taking the first step. But I encourage you to take it outside of this room and you take it to your colleagues and your constituents and you give them the most that you can.”

Jelly Roll, a former drug dealer, told Congress: “I was a part of the problem. I am here now standing as a man that wants to be a part of solution.”

He shared that the mother of his 15-year-old daughter is a drug addict.

“Every day I get to look in the eyes of a victim in my household of the effects of drugs. Every single day. And every single day, I have to wonder, me and my wife, if today will be the day that I have to tell my daughter that her mother became a part of the national statistic.”

Mark Heim is a reporter for The Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Mark_Heim. He can be heard on “The Opening Kickoff” on WNSP-FM 105.5 FM in Mobile or on the free Sound of Mobile App from 6 to 9 a.m. daily.