Apr 24, 2015 | By Tim Stoddart
A Message To Joe Rogan About Addiction And Drug Use
Addiction & Recovery News
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 🙂
connie
9 years ago
My name is Connie C. I’m a recovering alcoholic addict. May God bless each one of u to get u to the point of recovery. Lots of N A love to all my brothers and sisters in recovery and those that have not found their way yet.
Jeff
9 years ago
I don’t understand why we let people’s thoughts about us matter. That takes up space that I use twards my recovery. I share with those who will listen and make an example for those that wont. Im not Super Man, I cant save the world. God bless
Please
9 years ago
This article was the reason I don’t open shit like this. You are a retard.
John
9 years ago
You should drink yourself to death. For the good of everyone.
Ivy
9 years ago
Excellent points all around. Thanks for sharing, Tim.
David Riedy
9 years ago
I know i was once an addict and an alcoholic but i can now drink socially and dabble in hallucinogens and weed at festivals and concerts and sometimes just plain ol’ camping but that’s me I pray everyday not to get lost in the devil:s playground. .Our leaders are evil
Matt rutledge
9 years ago
Well said. I’m a recovering alchohic and love Joe Rogan! At first I thought you were going to bash him about legalization. But I believe in most of what Joe says about that. You said it well and it would be nice if he shed a little more light on addiction. But live and let live
Lisa Nixon
9 years ago
Hello – you took the words right out of my mouth. I love his podcast, and have the same reaction any time i hear him speak on the subject. I have found myself saying “I wish he would bring someone on from a recovery perspective”. He is a strong, opinionated and educated resource who reaches a lot of people. Would be a huge victory for the recovery community to expand on this side of it for sure.
Dave C.
9 years ago
solution, solution, solution…….
Traci
9 years ago
FINALLY!!! Thank you so much! I am in recovery and the stigma of my life is I’m an ex-junkie. This is true, but the stigma sucks. I have recently become a volunteer at Minnesota Recovery Connection where there goal is not just to advocate, but to help relieve the stigmatism of addiction. Thank you v for sharing this! Peace.
Jesse C
9 years ago
I completely agree. you hit the nail right on the head. a successful debate needs to have suitable counterparts. I would be willing to join you.
Jeremy
9 years ago
There’s no comments here and I normally don’t delve into comments sections on sites but Joe Rogan has repeatedly talked about his own addictions. Not only that he’s talked about a friend of his making sure Joe never tried cocaine because he’d “like it too much” because of Joe’s personality back then. He’s reflected on avoiding that more harmful addiction many times as well as his video game addiction that lasted 2 years. He’s also had many people on the podcast speak about their own addictions and had Carl Hart on (twice I think?) who is an associate professor of psychology and psychiatry to talk about the science of finding out why people get addicted to everything and anything.
What you wrote about yourself may have been very true for you but the rest of your post may come from misunderstanding or possibly misinterpretation the content. It feels like you’re basing this post on YouTube video clips and online text quotes of a famous person, removed from context, rather than listening to him talk on his podcast for 3 hour stretches over the course of years.
I don’t know him personally myself nor do presume to speak for him. I’m just a fan of his podcast encouraging you to look a little deeper in case you’re mistaken 🙂
bobanyon
9 years ago
“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.” OK so if you don’t care about why you are sick, how can you expect others too .
JoeRogan
8 years ago
Umm, I think he was trying to make the point that he doesn’t care about defining his “disease.” And he clearly acknowledges in the excerpt you quoted that he “reacts to drugs differently than other people.” You’re taking his words out of context.
philip
9 years ago
Agreed. A good leader, which, in a sense, is what Joe is, is aware of both sides of the coin. Hopefully Joe will embark on a journey of truth some day. Everybody knows what an opinion is and has one. But not everyone knows what the truth is and even less have any in there lives. Disfunction being the byproduct of the lack there of. Let’s face it the truth can be painful. Either way all paths lead to the same place and hopefully, when our time comes we will all have found the truth and learned to accept it. I know today for me the only way around it is through it. God blessya and thank you for the exercise in thought. Philip k. 8 years clean and sober.
Michael Stubblefield
9 years ago
Todd it was a real pleasure to have read this article. I have experienced the unfortunate ability of not being able to “Just stop” To many times to count. I have been looking into going to school to get a degree in addiction and recovery. Another sign to go for it. I believe I could make a real difference. Truly Sincerly, Michael Stubblefield. Keep up the great work.
Dan
9 years ago
You are entirely wrong. Joe Rogan always says drugs arent for everyone. And people get out of control with cheeseburgers if you let them.
Genny Blaker
9 years ago
Thank you for writing this article.
I’ve been in recovery for 5yrs. It has to be my primary focus or I will end up back where I was.
Everyone has a story how they became sufficiently horrified with themselves.
Not enough is said about the journey into the light and what it takes to stay there.
Renee
9 years ago
I can relate to this article and have always struggled with the disease label that has been put on addiction. Great article, brings up accurate and intriguing points that i think about often. If you have not experienced this powerful pull into addiction & binging you do not know anything about it and definitely should not be educating others on the subject. Thanks for this article.
tj n
9 years ago
Hey, I enjoyed the article and I do agree with some of your points, as I’ve found many of my beliefs tend to fall in line with Joe’s but, I’ve heard numbers of guests on this podcast talk about having abused a drug or gone through some experience that they had to recover from. Graham Hancock on multiple occasions has described how he struggled with abusing marijuana. At least a few guests have spoken on over indulging in mushrooms or other psychedelic drugs that may not even be considered “hard”. I have never heard the point argued on this podcast that drugs are for everyone and in some of (I want to say the later 400’s) episodes he actually refers to friends he and Aubrey Marcus have in South America who use forms of ayuhuasca and DMT to help treat addictions to hard drugs. I have struggled with short term addictions to some amphetamines(a few weeks straight with no sense of control) and at one point( for about 4 months) I also had an abusive relationship with marijuana. I have since used psychedelics, which I think were a key role in my recognition of the issue and my ability to overcome it. I find myself now taking month long breaks from caffeine just to ensure there isn’t anything in my system that I’m addicted to. I also use marijuana in a much more controlled and beneficial manner and never feel like I can’t walk away from it.
And on another point, without sounding patronizing, in every scenario in life where we are trying to solve a problem, identifying the problem is the key to starting that process. So saying that you don’t care about identifying the issue that causes you to react to drugs in an addictive manner but, requesting help regardless is extremely counter intuitive. It’s not done solely to label the category that we throw addicts in, or to make people feel better because they believe their issues are afflictions instead of self inflicted. It is in an effort to truly understand what is happening behind the curtain. What if it is a chemical imbalance, for example, that causes this abusive nature towards drugs? Would it not then make sense that helping to rectify that specific function could help someone break their addictive nature entirely, and not just their addiction? Kind of a take on the ole’ give a man a fish, teach a man to fish proverb. I guess what I’m saying is we can cope with addiction without defining it completely but, in an effort to rid addiction in much larger quantities and at a higher rate of efficacy we must be able to define EXACTLY what addiction is; Not based in opinion or emotion but, in science. I hope you don’t take offense to my counter points, just trying to rebutt intelligently 🙂 – TJ
paul
9 years ago
I wonder how many people are going to watch that Joe Rogan YouTube and relapse . ..I use to sound alot like that before I GOT SOBER..great job your doing there Mr Tim stoddart
yonette
9 years ago
May God bless you, I truly loved what you had to say and agree with you. I, personally am not an addict but have two sons that are, heroin and pain pills.. they are at this time recovering, it will be a long and hard road but their lives are so much more than their addictions.
Ricardo
9 years ago
What happens when people use that pain and that experience as a means to build character?
This is well said, working with people who suffer from alcoholism and addictions and most of the time I believe that feeling hopeless in life about recovery is what brings people to consume. But I strongly believe in building character. One thing we must do as human beings is change out attitude about life, because most people who suffer from this are emotionally wounded but if we learn from those pains we can keep going on in life. Attitude is key, but sometimes pain has clouded it so much that we find it impossible, we must learn to think different, to feel different, attitude is key.
Thanks,
Psych. Ricardo
Claire
9 years ago
Has anyone factchecked Joe Rogan when he makes comments like smoking weed does not contribute to car accidents and that it has no side effects on the lungs or brain?
I mean, I get that weed may be less damaging than cigs or alcohol, but the guys acts like it’s harmless and there is a conspiracy.
Janet Benson
9 years ago
I am a recovering alcoholic/addict/ice cream Bing-eating, whatever stops the feelings I don’t like. I’ll go on his show and talk about my diseeeeease (sarcasm)
Cassius Starbuckle
9 years ago
Love
Elle
9 years ago
I agree, there is so much out there about the state of addiction and all its negativity. Which is understandable because of the damage it does. It’s like people want to scare people to never become addicts. Which I don’t think is helpful. People are generally aware of how bad addiction can affect ones life. Like the show intervention, 95% of it is on the abuse and use. The last 3 minutes of the show are on the aftermath. THIS only perpetuates the stigma addicts get, it doesn’t show that yes they can get help and move forward in a meaningful way. The bad part of addiction seems to be all the media wants to talk about beaches unfortunately people are addicted to drama more than they are positivity. Thanks for your article.
Steve
8 years ago
I suggest updating this article before re-posting it on Twitter again. I see that it is almost a year old. Of the guests I can just recall from recent memory that Joe has had on the podcast who have openly discussed adiction is Greg Fitzsimmons, Dr Rhonda Patrick and the Bell brothers (who created the documentaries Bigger, Stronger, Faster and Prescription Thugs-which specifically looks at addiction and the drug epidemic in the US).
He has a miriad of guests on and unless you listen to all podcasts and make a chart of the opinions heard on adiction, you’re just cherry picking. Above all I believe he promotes personal responsibility, discipline and being brutally honest with yourself. This includes being honest with yourself about your ability to drink or use drugs without becoming adicted and getting help if you need it.
At the time of this post I’m 7 months sober myself after years of struggle and it is from hard work and honesty, not “God” magically releaving me from a “disease.” I don’t talk shit about any program that helps people, but I do find it very close-minded when some people (mostly AA members) can’t even hear someone who disagrees with them without getting personally offended.
“It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.” -Aristotle
Tim Stoddart
8 years ago
I think you make a good point Steve. I agree this post is outdated and it was re-posted on social media when it shouldn’t have been. The interviews with Dr Rhonda Patrick have been fascinating, and I especially like the Bell Brothers interview. I appreciate your input, although I assure you that I am not offended.
I am happy for you and your recovery. I hope you continue going forward!
-Tim
Jesse Bennett
8 years ago
Tim
I listen to Joe a lot as well and he has said many times that he doesn’t really understand addiction so it would make sense that he doesn’t understand recovery. Maybe you should offer to train him and offer him education about addiction and recovery. Recovery messaging training would do him well. The biggest part of reducing stigma is with the education piece.
Thanks!
Kenny V
7 years ago
Dear Tim Stoddart:
Thank you for your message to Rogan. I enjoyed it and as a result have inadvertently discovered Sober Nation.
I only wanted to add a point about the disease concept of addiction being problematic for many persons in and around recovery. This should be clarified as drug addiction. Alcoholism is a separate animal. Yes, I’m well aware that alcoholism has generally been termed as alcohol addition, Nevertheless it is completely different than drug addition which is not a disease and should have never been classified as such. This happened with the advent of Narcotics Anonymous, which adopted for their program not only the 12-step model but all the precepts and hard-learned medical and philological findings of the late, great Dr. Wm. D. Silkworth. It was in the 1920s when Silkworth pronounced alcoholism a disease. But never drug addition. He knew the difference. And so did another fine M.D. in the field, whom I had the privilege of hearing speak in 1980 at an A.A. function in Reseda, Cal. (I happened to be 8 years sober at the time. In short, he told us that anybody….ANYBODY, can become a drug addict. Not So for the alcoholic. Using heroin as an example, he said, in similar words:
“Give me 100 random people for a three-day weekend. Let me put them in hotel for just three days, with a needle in their arms in application of measured amounts. At the end of the three-day experiment the doctor said he would have 75 heroin addicts out of the 100.”
The same cannot happen with alcohol abuse. No matter how many varied people might abuse the use of alcohol over the course of years, the percentage of those actually becoming alcoholic never changes. Generally speaking it is one out of 10 or one out of 11.
Notwithstanding the fact of hereditary alcoholism which has been genetically substanciated for nearly thity years. The only people who born as drug addist are the little babies who were receiving those drugs from mother’s bloodstream while in the womb.
Drug addicts do not have a disease, because anybody and everybody can potentially become addictd. Alcoholics are in their seperate class.
Kenny V.
hubert
7 years ago
Listen to his podcast with Russell Brand (#812), who discusses his decade long abstinence, what led him to follow it and his challenges in maintaining it.
For me, the most resounding aspect was how supportive Joe was because it was clear that Russell had made this decision by himself. It made me realise that Joe is only critical when people refuse drugs because of propaganda they’ve heard.
He can sound very critical at times, e.g. insisting people who can’t control their addictions are “losers”, but I take this as encouragement to both recognise and act on our addictions as this makes us strong people.
Tim Stoddart
7 years ago
The episode with Russell Brand was one of my all time favorites. Funny because I even thought about removing or amending this article to reflect more up to date information. Thanks for your comment.
Jason Clark
7 years ago
Hey man, great opinion and great read. Have you tried the latest JRE interview with Steve-O formally of “Jackass”? He talks a lot about hilarious moments before his recovery, and a lot about how recovery has saved his life (episode #960). Thanks again!
Ken Cubiotti
6 years ago
I’ve heard people ridicule and down play the recovery process for many years. I am a recovering alcoholic and drug addict. I have said this and believe it. I’ve had people ask me, when did you stop or what was the last thing I used.
I tell them I’m addicted to everything I like.
I’m an addict pure and simple and given the mindset of fuck it,I will use again!
That being said my last binge ended in 8/1/88.
It hasn’t been easy by any means and the fuckits have come close many times but I realize that if I don’t let someone what’s going on with me that I’ll be off to the races!
I used alcohol to drown my sorrows, I use cocaine to how can I put it, maintain!
When I say that I mean it fed my addictive personality. My friends were a bottle and a quarter ounce. If I had those I was okay I thought.
What I didn’t realize is that I was caught up in a cycle of inferiority that nothing in any quantity could overcome.
Thanks to a twelve step program and new friends stuck with me and let me be me I have been able to stay sober and clean.
Today I have a catering business, I volunteer for a fire dept. I have a wonderful wife and I’m not afraid to pickup my jeans on a Monday morning only to find empty pockets. That’s something that would be gut wrenching for me and kept me using. I know that sounds strange but there are a lot of folks that can relate.
Do I regret what has happened in my life?
Fuck no I don’t!
I am where I’m suppose to be. This is what I’m suppose to do in my life. My wisdom hasn’t been read in a book. I lived it one day at a time!
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