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Aaron Rodgers made sure to clear up any negative connotations around the Green Bay Packers’ touchdown celebration against the Chicago Bears on Sunday night and his own ayahuasca use.
Rodgers appeared on "The Pat McAfee Show" Tuesday and lectured about ayahuasca and making sure everyone knew it was a plant and not a "drug." The Packers’ superstar quarterback went on his tangent about McAfee asked a question using the word "drug."
"You just used the word ‘drug’ to refer to ayahuasca. I saw a few articles people sent me about us doing the tea celebration. And I just want to stop you there right away because the reference to ayahuasca, or even marijuana, putting the tag ‘drug’ on them is a manipulative word that creates a bias against those specific things. And it happens all over society," Rodgers said.
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Aaron Rodgers, #12 of the Green Bay Packers, warms up prior to the game against the Chicago Bears at Lambeau Field on Sept. 18, 2022 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. (Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
"Think about the word ‘fat’ and ‘sugar’ when it comes to food. ‘Fat’ brings an image of unhealthiness and maybe obesity, death, where ‘sugar’ is sweet right? Sweet is kindness, kindness is loving. So we have these two words that couldn’t be more opposite. High-fat foods are usually pretty good for you. Foods in high sugar are terrible for you. You cut sugar out of your diet, and it has an immediate impact on your cells and your body especially if there’s a cancerous growth on your body or a pre-cancerous growth. Sugar is not good for you. Fat, most fats are pretty good for you."
Rodgers noted the difference between what he terms plants versus drugs.
"Drugs, you think about drugs, you start labeling marijuana a drug – which is a plant. Ayahuasca a drug, which is a plant. Psilocybin a drug, that’s a fungi also comes from the Earth. Then you think about ‘medicine’ … What is medicine? I’m gonna take my daily medicine, my aspirin – that’s a drug. I’m gonna take my cough medicine – that’s a drug, that’s not a plant. I’m gonna take my whatever fill-in-the-blank medicine that’s a pharmaceutical – those are drugs," he said.
"Ayahuasca is not a drug. It has properties in it that have hallucinogenic abilities, but it’s not a drug. We’re talking about plants here. I think it’s a very important point to make. This is how words are used in our society to create a bias against certain things and I do think it’s important enough to go on this ridiculous tangent that I went on to remind people how words are used to create bias in certain situations. Those bias create fears and those fears prevent them from doing the research themselves or looking into it or having their own idea or truth about certain situations."
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Rodgers also made clear what, to him, words are.
"Really think about the words we use because words are spelled for a reason because they cast spells and create energy around a positive or negative situations with certain things."
The Alcohol and Drug Foundation defines ayahuasca as a "plant-based psychedelic" with the active ingredient being dimethyltryptamine, otherwise known as DMT. Dimethyltryptamine is classified as a Schedule I drug.
Aaron Rodgers, #12 of the Green Bay Packers, runs for yards during a game against the Chicago Bears at Lambeau Field on Sept. 18, 2022 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. (Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
Rodgers celebrated with Allen Lazard after a touchdown pass. The wide receiver was in the end zone with his teammates and appeared to celebrate the touchdown by mimicking Rodgers’ offseason interaction with ayahuasca. Rodgers would also come over to partake in the festivity.
According to ESPN, Sammy Watkins confirmed it was an ayahuasca celebration with a hat tip to Rodgers. Randall Cobb added they were "just drinking some tea."
The star quarterback explained his use of ayahuasca in August.
Rodgers appeared on the "Aubrey Marcus Podcast" and revealed he consumed ayahuasca on a trip to South America prior to him winning the MVP award in 2020 and 2021. Ayahuasca is described as an herbal drink used by countries in the Amazon which produces a psychoactive effect.
Rodgers said he believes his experience with ayahuasca and winning the MVPs were connected. He also said he believed his mental health improved as well.
"To me, one of the core tenets of your mental health is that self-love. 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?" he said at the time.
Aaron Rodgers, #12 of the Green Bay Packers, looks on after a win over the Chicago Bears at Lambeau Field on Sept. 18, 2022 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. (Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
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"The greatest gift I can give my teammates, in my opinion, is to be able to show up and to be someone who can model unconditional love to them. I mean, obviously it's important I play well and show up and lead and all that stuff, but they won't care about what you say until they know how much you care."
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