It was known publicly that Aaron Rodgers would be a keynote speaker at a psychedelic conference even before he decided to go to the New York Jets.
The Psychedelic Science 2023 Conference took place yesterday in Denver, Colorado, and the longtime NFL quarterback did not hold back one bit when discussing the use of psychedelics and other substances.
Pro Football Talk obtained audio from Rodger’s time on stage, and one of the main talking points was trying to legalize marijuana.
Rodgers stated:
“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?
We’ve got to change that. We’ve got to change that. It’s through awareness and education.”
You know what, Aaron makes a couple of decent points there. He’s definitely preaching to the choir at a Psychedelic conference, but you can tell that he truly meant and believed in what he was saying.
Where Rodgers lost me is when he went on a tangent that made him sound like he might’ve been on a little something while he was fulfilling his key note speaker role.
See if you can make sense of this quote:
“You know, 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.”
Okay, a bit of a stretch there Rodgers, but I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt. As a writer, I do, in fact, think that words are interesting.
Later on, he got back on track and began calling out others who had questioned his off-the-field decision making in the past, like when he has partaken in the drug known as ayahuasca.
Rodgers stated:
“I guarantee you all these bums who want to come after me online about my experience and stuff, they’ve never tried it.
They’re the perfect people for it. We need to get these people taking it.”
Getting someone to take a medicinal thing, huh Rodgers?
For someone that avoided taking the COVID-19 vaccine and even attacked someone recently for having a pro-vaccine stance, that’s an interesting quote from the Super Bowl winning quarterback.
Towards the end of his time as a speaker, he ended with a pretty existential question:
“Success in life was holding the Lombardi Trophy. Now I’ve done it. Now what? Now what’s the purpose of all this?”
Shield your eyes if you are a New York Jets fan. That sounds like a quote from someone who has moved passed their “football is life” part of their career.
However, I’d venture to say that Aaron is still pretty damn good when he doesn’t seem to care all that much, so I’m sure the Jets will be fine.
All in all though, Rodgers seemed to “fit the part” of a speaker at a psychedelic conference. Like the interesting words that he spoke of, hopefully he can “put a spell” on opposing defenses when the NFL season kicks off in September.
