Star quarterback Aaron Rodgers gave an honest admission last week about his use of ayahuasca, which is a psychoactive brew that contains DMT, a hallucinogenic tryptamine drug.
Following this admission, many thought that the NFL would come calling about the legality of this drug. The league officially made a statement on the matter on Monday.
NFL spokesperson Brian McCarthy detailed on Monday that Rodgers’ use of the drug would not have triggered a positive test result in either the substance abuse or performance-enhancing drug policies that the NFL currently has.
This is certainly an interesting ruling from the NFL considering the long list of players who have been punished by the NFL in the past for marijuana use. Like ayahuasca, marijuana isn’t a performance-enhancing drug. Both ayahuasca and marijuana are schedule I illegal drugs federally in the U.S., but marijuana is legalized in many states.
The NFL made the ruling in 2021 that players would be able to use marijuana between April 20th and August 9th, which lies in the NFL’s offseason.
It helps Rodgers’s case that he used the psychedelic drug during the offseason in 2020 while on vacation in Peru. But by the sounds of McCarthy’s ruling, it seems like this type of drug may be allowed at any time of the season for NFL players, with it not triggering positive test results under their current policies.
This ruling could have a big impact on the future of ayahuasca in the NFL. It will be interesting how the NFL rules if someone does use it during the season.
[ESPN]
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.