New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers will reportedly speak at the Psychedelic Science Conference in Denver this week.
The conference is a gathering of those interested in psychedelics and those trying to advocate for the increased therapeutic use of psychedelics to treat various physical and mental health issues.
Quarterback Aaron Rodgers #8 of the New York Jets during the team OTAs at Atlantic Health Jets Training Center on June 9, 2023, in Florham Park, New Jersey. (Rich Schultz/Getty Images)
Rodgers made headlines throughout the sports world last year when discussing his past use of ayahuasca, a psychedelic drug that he believes helped him have the best season of his career in 2021.
“To me, one of the core tenets of your mental health is that self-love,” Rodgers said on the Aubrey Marcus Podcast last year. “That’s what ayahuasca did for me, was help me see how to unconditionally love myself. It’s only in that unconditional self-love, that then I’m able to truly be able to unconditionally love others. And what better way to work on my mental health than to have an experience like that?”
Rodgers continued, “I laid there afterward on my mat and then opened my eyes, and it felt like I was opening my eyes for the first time.”
Quarterback Aaron Rodgers, #8 of the New York Jets, talks to reporters after the team’s OTA’s at Atlantic Health Jets Training Center on June 9, 2023, in Florham Park, New Jersey. (Rich Schultz/Getty Images)
The former Packer’s experience with ayahuasca is expected to be a featured part of his address to the conference.
Ayahuasca is a psychoactive tea that contains the hallucinogenic drug DMT.
The NFL has no rule against the use of ayahuasca.