Aaron Rodgers says consecutive MVP seasons gave him confidence to discuss ayahuasca use
DENVER – Aaron Rodgers is trying to combat the stigma surrounding athletes' use of psychedelics.
The New York Jets quarterback was the keynote speaker with his friend and podcast host Audrey Marcus on Wednesday for the Psychedelic Science 2023 convention in Denver. The former Green Bay Packers star rattled the sports world in August when he spoke about his ayahuasca use on Marcus' show, saying finding self-love through the psychedelic guided him to consecutive MVP seasons in 2020 and '21.
The four-time MVP spoke to the captivated crowd, which included a fan wearing a Packers cheesehead, about the stigma of psychedelics in the NFL and how he has been able to overcome that due to his on-field success.
"When I first did aya in 2020, I remember thinking afterwards, like I'm gonna have to talk about this at some point. Are people ready? How will it be received? Then I won MVP. Then I did it again. Then I said, OK, I can probably talk about it now," he said with a chuckle. "... If you do anything outside of the dinosaur norm in the NFL, you're an outlier, you don't care about football and you don't love football the right way. ... It's going to be hard to cancel me because previous year, 26 touchdowns, four interceptions, we had a good season. Ayahuasca, 48 touchdowns, five interceptions, MVP. What are you gonna say?"
In 1973, psychedelics were deemed schedule I substances, making possession of them illegal nationwide and creating significant barriers for scientific research. The growing movement in support of their use for medicinal purposes has led to measures that include Oregon legalizing medical psilocybin — also known as magic mushrooms — in 2020 and Colorado legalizing psilocybin for medical use as well as decriminalizing it for recreational use in November.
Rodgers said that he hears those critical of him, but he added that his remarks on psychedelics has sparked a wider discussion.
"The response from other people in the sports industry has been pretty incredible," he said. "To see basketball players and baseball players and surfers and 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 is pretty, pretty special."
Rodgers says ayahuasca use helps strengthen bond with teammates
One of the ways Rodgers and Marcus claimed psychedelics can help with performance is centered on teamwork. The quarterback said that doing an ayahuasca ceremony — held in a maloca — with teammates had strengthened their bonds with one another.
"I've been fortunate enough in the last few years to be able to sit in ceremony with teammates and I'm telling you, it's radically life-changing. It's wild to be in the locker room and to look over and just know, I've been to maloca with you, man. It's pretty special. It changes the dynamic for sure," said Rodgers, who did not provide any additional details regarding his teammates' participation. "... I'm really, really thankful for those opportunities because it just changes the dynamic when you're in a room with somebody, you're in a huddle with somebody, you're on a team with somebody, you're talking and you're like, man, I've been there with you. That's my brother."
He added that "there's been hundreds of NFL guys who've reached out" to him to discuss psychedelics.
"It's been really fun to be able to connect with these guys who've done medicine work or who's fascinated by it and want to learn more about it," he said.
Why Rodgers spoke at Psychedelic Science 2023
Rodgers' appearance at the convention comes at a point of increased visibility for the psychedelics movement. Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) said that there were 12,000 people who registered for the convention, four times as many people as the last gathering, which was held in 2017.
Devon Phillips, creative strategist for MAPS, said that the organization enlisted Rodgers to speak because of his "reach and his powerful story."
"Football is a masculine space where you have to have a tough persona and then there's a helmet and pads that create a facade," Phillips said. "... Anytime you have clarity, of course it can be performance enhancing."
Later in the day, Psychedelic Science 2023 hosted a screening of the E60 documentary "Peace of Mind" about a group of athletes who went to Jamaica to receive psilocybin treatment. Former NHL player Riley Cote, an advocate for athletes to use psychedelics for their mental health, was among those who participated. He noted how the movement in support of psychedelics is changing, and he cited Rodgers as a sign of that.
"It's only growing bigger and stronger, obviously with Aaron Rodgers speaking," Cote said at the conference. "If Tom Brady or Wayne Gretzky came out and spoke, I'm sure the ripple would be ever greater, obviously, but it's certainly growing every day."
Rodgers reflects on challenging himself through ayahuasca, football
Throughout their talk, Rodgers and Marcus emphasized how an ayahuasca journey requires painful physical experiences. But putting their bodies through the rigorous process is worth the reward of self-love and clarity.
For Rodgers, the journey parallels his experience on the gridiron.
"The satisfaction and joy and unconditional love that flows into your body from that, that's the greatest drug, isn't it? To just know what you're capable of more than you even thought was possible," he said. "There's a beauty in that that I love finding sometimes you find on the field, sometimes on the medicine journey, sometimes in a friendship, on a phone call. There's nothing sweeter than the satisfaction of knowing that you stood in the fire and you stood up, you rose one more time. You laid down in that and you're able to rise one last time. 'Cause it's not for everybody. But those who are willing to dare greatly will reap the rewards and the rewards are so beautiful, the most beautiful."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Aaron Rodgers opens up on psychedelics, ayahuasca use at conference
