A Message To Joe Rogan About Addiction And Drug Use

Image source Live Nation I am a big fan of Joe Rogan. I listen to his podcast frequently. I relate to a lot of what he says. I especially relate to him in regards to his opinions on fitness and health, about the martial arts, and about avoiding the trap of "picking sides" in life. Problems very rarely have black and white solutions, most of the time there is a lot of gray in the world and it is important to keep perspective. Joe Rogan has one of the most successful podcasts in the country. It is his curiosity and his ability to converse about compelling topics that make his podcast so engaging. One of the issues the Joe Rogan speaks about often is drug use, drug abuse and how it affects us as people.

First Off - Who Is Joe Rogan?

Before Joe Rogan had a successful podcast, he was already involved in a lot of other forms of media. He is a successful stand-up comedian. When I lived in Philly I saw him at a comedy club called Helium. I saw him once again at The Improv in West Palm Beach. At that show, he told a joke about his daughter that made me laugh harder than any joke I've ever heard before. Also, he is a very skilled martial artist with black belts in Jui-Jitsu and Tae Kwon Do. It was through listening to him and watching a now retired MMA fighter named BJ Penn that I was first introduced to submission grappling. Through martial arts is where I learned about meditation, about having control over my breathing and over my emotions. It has had a great impact on my spirituality. I know what your thinking... what does any of this have to do with addiction?

Joe Rogan On Drug Use And Legalization

Joe Rogan takes a strong stance on the legalization of marijuana. I agree with him on almost every level. To me, the idea that police can take you away and put you in jail for smoking pot is infuriating. Prison guard unions and private prison companies need to keep their jails full, and what better way to do this than by criminalizing something as innocuous as marijuana? It drives me nuts. RELATED: How The American Prison System Preys On Drug Addicts I understand this may be surprising to read on the Sober Nation site, and everyone is entitled to their own opinion. But to me, arresting people who have committed no violent crimes and locking them in fucking cages does absolutely nothing to suppress the addiction problem in this country. The legal system can not fix this problem. It never will, because addiction is not a legal issue. So I am glad that Joe Rogan speaks about this so freely on his podcast. It's a hugely popular program and I hope that it helps in changing perspective for some people. Sooner or later, people need to realize that making something illegal does not stop people from doing it. The same applies to heroin, crack and meth and all the other illegal drugs that people abuse. The simple fact is, you can not stop people from doing what they want to do. Actual crimes like murder and theft and assault are deserving of prison... but drug use is not. Laws do not sugar coat the world. I watched a YouTube video a while ago where Joe Rogan had a great point about "Nerfing the world." It always stuck with me. Watch the video below.

Finally - My Message To Joe Rogan About Addiction

Joe Rogan has lots of guests on his show and many times the topic of addiction and drug use is spoken about. On one hand I am glad because I respect that he is not afraid to talk about it, but every time the conversation is brought up I find myself a little dissatisfied. So much of the conversation about drug use in our country is over addiction, and so little is about actual recovery. Here is an example More than once, a guest named Abby Martin has been on the show. She is a highly intelligent woman and I always learn a lot from listening to her. However, there was one instance where she was mocking people with addiction by saying "it's a diseeeaasssee" with a very sarcastic tone that is difficult to describe trough written word. I struggle with the disease concept myself. I think people get caught up in the semantics and spend too much time trying to define addiction and not enough time talking about what we can do to help people. Don't get me wrong. Abby Martin is ridiculously smart and I respect a lot of what she says. If she wants to mock the disease concept of addiction that doesn't really bother me. It's simply that so much attention is focused on the negative behaviors and stigmatized aspects of addiction. I would prefer to focus on the positive and begin talking about success stories of people in recovery. Abby Martin is an opinionated news reporter and Joe Rogan is a comedian. They aren't responsible for shaping the recovery movement and they don't owe me or anyone anything. I just wish one time, someone, ANYONE would put a spotlight on someone in recovery who is doing something awesome with his or her life! Here is another example Joe Rogan often speaks about the benefits of drugs on his program. Once again, in many ways I agree with him. Drugs like marijuana and hallucinogens absolutely have the capacity to expand your mind. There is a reason these drugs have been used for centuries in many different types of spiritual rituals. Joe Rogan is open about that and I respect it. However, I think it is important to remember that SOME PEOPLE JUST CAN NOT STOP. Not everyone reacts to drugs the same way. The first time I ate mushrooms was a blast. I was 16 or so and I'll never forget it. However, something happened after that first time and I ate mushrooms for like 9 days straight. It was not a spiritual retreat or an enlightening experience. It was a binge, it was nothing but an escape from reality. I wish Joe Rogan would bring in a guest who can talk about that at some point because that is what addiction is. It is when you can't stop. No matter what, you just can't stop and you have no fucking clue why. Again, I am not interested in defining it. Do I have a disease or a disorder or a chemical imbalance? I don't know and I don't really care, but the fact is that I react to drugs differently than other people. That is not debatable. It's just what happens. So with all that, my simple wish is that Joe Rogan would bring on a guest that talks about recovery. Too often do people (maybe including myself) talk about addiction. This leads to people thinking that addicts are always train wrecks with track marks and fucked up teeth who are bad parents. But rarely do people talk about what happens on the other side of that. What happens when people use that pain and that experience as a means to build character? For me, I have found that recovery has easily been my biggest asset in life. I would love to hear Joe Rogan talk about that more. There are millions of people in recovery in this country. Recovery from drug and alcohol addiction has kept me from dying and has kept many people I know and love from dying. Let's start to focus more on celebrating recovery! Let's focus on celebrating the triumphs of those who fought to earn their lives back. Please note this article is just the opinion of the author :)