Lil Pump revealed his New Year’s resolution on Instagram Sunday. The 17-year-old “Gucci Gang” rapper has vowed not to take anymore Xanax in 2018. In a soundless Instagram video where Pump flexes his jewelry, his caption reads, “2018 we going even more crazy love yall (btw I don’t take xanz no more fuck Xanax 2018)”
The Warner Bros. signed artist is taking a stand that’s becoming more popular in hip-hop as lives continue to be lost in the prescription drug and opioid epidemic. In mid-November, rapper and friend of Lil Pump, Lil Peep, died from a reported overdose of Fentanyl and Xanax. He was 21 years old.
The passing of Lil Peep forced some rappers to kick the addiction like Lil Uzi Vert who revealed that he was fighting withdraw symptoms from the drug. Prior to Peep’s passing, a few rappers have fought the addiction as well. G-Herbo said in an interview with VladTv that he once spent $50,000 on lean. TDE rapper Schoolboy Q once said in an interview that he stopped drinking lean only to have the withdraw effects from lean torture him. The ‘Oxymoron’ rapper eventually relapsed and it is unknown where he stands now with the drug.
Outside of hip-hop, the opioid epidemic has affected many Young Americans. The CDC reports that in 2016 there were more than 63,000 deaths due to overdose which doubled the amount of the previous year. In October, President Trump announced the opioid epidemic to be a ‘public health emergency’ although many expected Trump to declare the crisis a ‘national emergency’ which would’ve allowed immediate funding from the Federal Government to fight the epidemic.
Hopefully, Lil Pump’s latest revelation of dropping the drug addiction catches wind with other artists and fans and we see a lot more sobriety in the near future.
