Aaron Rodgers' Comments on Psychedelics Interest All Media Sites

Former Cal star says psychedelics should be legalized and that many athletes have asked him about them

Few professional athletes can generate off-field news that is reported by this eclectic group of media services: CNN, Associated Press, People magazine, Rolling Stone, ESPN, Fox News, New York Post, The Sporting News and United Kingdom media outlets such as Mirror, The Guardian and The Daily Mail, just name a few.

However, most professional athletes are not Aaron Rodgers, a former Cal star and current Jets quarterback who, through the years, has provided all types of media groups with an assortment of items for their particular audiences.

This time the news was about Rodgers' comments regarding psychedelics that he made during the Psychedelic Science 2023 conference in Denver, Colorado, a state that last year legalized the use psilocybin, a mind-altering component of magic mushrooms.

The two main talking points were that Rodgers said pyschedelics should be legalized and that a number athletes from a variety of sports have asked him about psychedelics, have shared their experiences with psychedelics and even joined Rodgers in the experience. It grew out of his admission last year that he used the psychedelic ayahuasca the summer before he won his fourth MVP Award.

In a moment, we'll get to how the wide variety of media outlets reported on Rodgers' comments, but first this from Rich Eisen of NFL Network:

It's been all champagne and roses so far in the New York media for #TakeFlight QB @AaronRodgers12 but is the tide starting to turn following his comments in Colorado about psychedelics? #NFL pic.twitter.com/Rb1YSTELXG

— Rich Eisen Show (@RichEisenShow) June 22, 2023

Here is a video of some of Rodgers comments, one starting 25 seconds into the video and the other beginning 1:40 into the video:

Here are excerpts from a variety of news sources regarding Rodgers' comments at the conference:

CNN:

“It’s going to be hard to cancel me because the previous year [in 2019] – 26 touchdowns, four interceptions, we had a good season,” Rodgers, who was then playing for the Green Bay Packers, said on Wednesday. “Ayahuasca – 48 touchdowns, five interceptions, MVP. What are you gonna say?”

Rodgers has often been the subject of ridicule for embracing alternative therapies, but has previously credited psychedelics like psilocybin and ayahuasca for helping to alleviate his fear of death and deepening a sense of self-love.

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People magazine

Aaron Rodgers believes in the “radically life-changing” effects of psychedelic drugs.

While at a conference hosted by the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies in Denver on Wednesday, the New York Jets quarterback, 39, shared his experiences with ayahuasca — a psychoactive brewed drink from South America — and psilocybin, a hallucinogenic substance found in certain types of mushrooms.

“I found a deeper self love,” Rodgers told podcaster Aubrey Marcus about taking ayahuasca with his teammates, according to audio provided to PEOPLE. “It unlocked that whole world of what I’m really here to do is to connect, to connect with those guys, and to make those bonds and to inspire people.”

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Rolling Stone, under this headline: 'Aaron Rodgers Explains the Value of Watching Colleagues Vomit and Shit Simultaneously':

Since then, Rodgers claimed, “hundreds” of NFL players have reached out to him about potentially trying ayahuasca themselves, which he said can also strengthen team bonds through intimate ritual. “Seeing somebody double platinum in the maloca changes your relationship with them,” he quipped at one point. The maloca is the traditional hut where an ayahuasca ceremony takes place, while “double platinum,” as Marcus explained, is a euphemism for vomiting and defecating at the same time from the effect of the drug. 

Amid the pair’s musing on the ways that age-old psychedelic medicines could revolutionize today’s culture, they expressed admiration for Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is challenging President Biden for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2024. Kennedy — whom Rodgers and Marcus mostly referred to as “Bobby” — has already made a number of bizarre claims on the campaign trail and routinely attacks the pharmaceutical industry. In a Twitter Spaces event, he suggested without evidence that antidepressants are to blame for school shootings, and for almost two decades he has promoted conspiracist pseudoscience about the dangers of vaccines, including those for Covid-19.

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ESPN

"The response from other people in the sports industry has been incredible,” [Rodgers said]. To see basketball players and baseball players and surfers, entertainers and my own teammates and colleagues across the league reach out and either share their story about their own medicine journey or ask to be a part of an upcoming one was pretty special."

He also called out the "bums" who have criticized him after he has discussed his experiences.

"Because I guarantee you all these bums who want to come after me online about my experience and stuff, they've never tried it," he added. "They're the perfect people for it. We need to get these people taking it."

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Pro Football Talk (NBC Sports)

“Is it not ironic that the things that actually expand your mind are illegal and the things that . . . dumb you down have been legal for centuries?” Rodgers said, via audio provided to PFT. “We’ve got to change that. We’ve got to change that. It’s through awareness and education.”

He also said the “cool thing” about using it has been the response, but “not from the media that calls me a druggie or a hippie or whatever.” Then, he actually started sounding a little like a druggie or a hippie or whatever.

“You know,” Rodgers said, “words are so interesting. They have such power in their spells. There’s a reason it’s called ‘spelling,’ because the way that the letters are put together have such power.”

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New York Post

He also talked about having NFL teammates partake with him.

“I’ve been fortunate enough in the last few years to be able to sit in ceremony with teammates,” said Rodgers, who was on the Packers for 18 seasons before joining the Jets this offseason. “I’m telling you, it is radically life-changing, and it’s wild to be in a locker room and look over and just know, like, I’ve been in the maloca [an indigenous South American dwelling] with you, guy. It’s pretty special. It changes the dynamic, for sure. And in this process, like I said, there’s been hundreds of NFL guys who have reached out.”

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Fox News

Proponents have claimed psychedelic substances can help individuals better cope with post-traumatic stress disorders and even counter alcoholism.

However, many medical experts have pushed back on those claims by stating that more research needs to be conducted in order to provide evidence on potential benefits and risks of psychedelics.

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DailyMail.co.uk

Aaron Rodgers has sensationally revealed that 'hundreds' of NFL players have asked him about his psychedelics consumption, claiming that he's sat 'in ceremony' with teammates as the Jets quarterback continued to praise ayahuasca at a conference.

On Wednesday, Rodgers, 39, attended the Psychedelic Science 2023 conference in Denver, Colorado, where he opened up on his experiences with ayahuasca -- a sort of psychoactive and entheogenic brewed drink traditionally used both socially and as a ceremonial or shamanic spiritual medicine among the indigenous people living in the Amazon basin.

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Mirror.co.uk

Rodgers has previously spoken about his experiences with ayahuasca, with the NFL saying in August 2022 that he would not face any penalties for the trips he took during two separate off-seasons. Now the NFL quarterback has used his own experiences to explain why he thinks people need to be educated on the subject.

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USA Today

Aaron Rodgers is trying to combat the stigma surrounding athletes' use of psychedelics.

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The Sporting News

Aaron Rodgers has made his love for ayahuasca and other psychedelics well known. He's hoping it won't be far out until others can use it as well.

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Cover photo of Aaron Rodgers by Chris Pedota, NorthJersey.com, USA TODAY NETWORK

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