Joe Rogan Admits He Likes To Be High When He’s Around His Kids — It Helps Him Find Them ‘Interesting & Charming’ Instead Of Frustrating
He believes that using psychedelics around his children makes him an even better parent than if he were sober.
S_buckley / Shutterstock / Xaviera, Denis Sined, Mouse Family, vitaliikrasnoselskyi / Canva The well-known podcaster Joe Rogan is no stranger to controversy, and he proves that he isn’t breaking the pattern anytime soon after an unsettling confession regarding his drug use around his children.
According to Rogan, he has no issue with using psychedelics around the kids since he finds their presence to be more enjoyable when he is high.
Joe Rogan claimed that being high around his children helps him find them more 'interesting and charming.'
During an episode of his podcast “The Joe Rogan Experience,” Rogan spoke with psychedelics researcher and advocate Amanda Feilding when the topic surrounding drug use and parenting arose.
“People don’t like this, but I’m going to say it, anyway. I like to be high around my children,” Rogan admitted.
He said that using psychedelics around his children makes him an even better parent than if he were sober. "When I’m around my children, I’m fascinated by them, and things that may be frustrating, perhaps if I was sober instead, are charming."
Feilding agreed with Rogan’s claims, even saying that using psychedelics around younger generations helps people connect more.
"You have much more in common with them. You are on the same wavelength,” she said.
Fielding has been a long-time proponent of psychedelic use, and her research has been well-received and recognized by medical professionals (including those from Johns Hopkins).
She is also the Executive Director and Founder of The Beckley Foundation. This nonprofit organization has been promoting the use of psychedelics through heavily backed research and collaborating with leading research institutions around the world, focusing on the positive effects of LSD.
“We have been stuck with SSRIs [such as Prozac or Zoloft] as our only tool for treating depression,” Feilding told The Guardian while arguing that LSD can be used to combat anxiety and depression in adults.
“It makes you more lively, you enjoy your thoughts more. You can find your flow.”
Like Feilding, Rogan has also been outspoken about his support of using psychedelics.
During an episode of the Netflix special, “Netflix Is A Joke,” Rogan explained how being high around his kids makes him a more loving and attentive parent.
“What’s the worst thing that can happen if I’m a little high around my kid? They’re gonna get extra hugs, and daddy’s gonna be paranoid about objects?” he joked.
Rogan said being high also allows him to have deeper conversations that help him connect with his youngest daughter.
“Our conversations are normally pretty boring, but when I’m high, I’m like, ‘You know you call that thing [his daughter’s doll] your baby, but you know it’s not a baby, right?’” he shared. “Do you call it a baby because you’re the youngest and you like having something to be responsible for?”
Rogan, who has been married to wife Jessica Ditzel for over a decade, has three daughters — Lola, Rosy, and Kayja Rose. His confessions regarding his drug use around them came as a surprise to many people, given the fact that he often keeps details about his home and family life private.
While Rogan and Feilding clearly believe that there is more good than harm when it comes to using psychedelics while parenting, others may not feel the same way.
Some people argue that parents should not be under the influence of any drugs or alcohol while around their children since they will not be 100% on their A-game.
“You got to remember that children want love. They want attention. They want human connections,” a representative from Family First Intervention shared in a TikTok video “When they have a family member in the home that is neglecting them emotionally, it’s gonna cause a lot of problems for that child.”
The representative claimed that children of parents who often use drugs or alcohol around them could suffer from low self-esteem, bully their peers as a way to take out their frustrations, and have unhealthy relationships as they begin dating.
The switch-up from a sober to a high or a drunk parent could also be scary for children, as they are never truly sure which version of a parent they are going to get.
Other parents argue that using drugs such as cannabis eases their anxieties and improves their parenting.
Amid and even after the COVID-19 pandemic that left us locked down with our families in confined spaces, many parents felt themselves becoming overwhelmed and easily frustrated, as well as their children.
Some of them turned to cannabis, which has been proven to decrease anxiety and stress levels, to make them calmer and more grounded with their children.
“You’re dealing with a teenager whose world has got turned upside down, and you’re confined in a small space, all together, for more hours than anybody should,” mother of three Barinder Rasode told BBC News of handling the pandemic while also parenting frustrated children.
“My cannabis consumption not only helped ease my own anxiety about the situation but made me a more patient parent.”
What responsible adults choose to do with alcohol, marijuana, or psychedelics when they are on their own is nobody’s business but theirs.
However, as a parent, it is important to consider the effects using drugs around your children could potentially have on them.
Weigh the pros and cons, be aware of the impacts, and, most importantly, provide your children with the love and attention they deserve.
Megan Quinn is a writer at YourTango who covers entertainment and news, self, love, and relationships.