Aaron Rodgers to speak at upcoming psychedelics convention in Denver
By CBS Colorado Staff
DENVER (KCNC) -- NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers is joining more than 300 speakers who will be participating in a Denver convention about psychedelics. It takes place in June at the Colorado Convention Center and is called Psychedelic Science. On its website, Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies calls their event the "largest psychedelic gathering in history" and the "definitive event of the psychedelic renaissance."
Rodgers is open about his use of and intrigue with psychedelic drugs. The 39-year-old went on a podcast over the weekend to talk about his plan to do a four-day "darkness retreat" this month which will include "'sensory deprivation isolation' that will simulate the drug DMT with the potential for hallucinations," CBS Sports reported. Last summer he said the Ayahuasca plant, a psychedelic, helped him perform at an elite level for the Green Bay Packers in the 2020 and 2021 football seasons. Rodgers won the league MVP award both of those years. Rodgers said he has also experimented with psychedelic mushrooms.
The 18-season NFL veteran has traveled to South America several times to use Ayahuasca. He says said last summer that he hopes he can dispell any negative stereotypes people might have about the drug.
Wellness icon Deepak Chopra will also be speaking at the convention. Others include Azul DelGrasso from Naropa University in Boulder, who is is a "Ph.Dc. Ecopsychologist and psychedelic researcher," and Matthew W. Johnson, a "professor of Psychedelics & Consciousness Research at Johns Hopkins."
In November's election, Colorado residents voted to decriminalize possession of psychedelic mushrooms. It doesn't mean people can sell or buy the drug, but it does mean anyone 21 and older can grow and share the mushrooms that contain the hallucination-inducing compounds psilocybin and psilocin. The measure that passed also allows for the creation of centers where people could make appointments to consume psilocybin. Those centers would be regulated by the state and are still a few years away from becoming reality.
Psychedelic Science 2023 will take place from June 19-23. Learn more at psychedelicscience.org.
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