Joe Rogan Experience #1213 - Dr. Andrew Weil

1. 0:00 – 15:00

   Four, three, two... All…

   1. JRJoe Rogan0:03

      Four, three, two... All the way from Tucson, Arizona, (claps) Dr. Weil. How are you, sir?

   2. AWDr. Andrew Weil0:11

      I am good.

   3. JRJoe Rogan0:12

      Thanks for doing this, man. I appreciate it.

   4. AWDr. Andrew Weil0:13

      Pleasure.

   5. JRJoe Rogan0:14

      You come highly recommended by many human beings that I know.

   6. AWDr. Andrew Weil0:16

      Well, I'm glad to hear it.

   7. JRJoe Rogan0:18

      How do you, uh, how do you get such a fine reputation?

   8. AWDr. Andrew Weil0:20

      Well, I've been doing the same things for a long time, just putting one foot ahead of the other and, uh, saying what I know to be true.

   9. JRJoe Rogan0:26

      And, uh, and pushing matcha.

   10. AWDr. Andrew Weil0:28

       (laughs)

   11. JRJoe Rogan0:28

       Everybody likes matcha. Who doesn't like matcha tea?

   12. AWDr. Andrew Weil0:31

       Well-

   13. JRJoe Rogan0:31

       This is your stuff?

   14. AWDr. Andrew Weil0:32

       Yeah, but you know, a lot of people don't... have only tasted really bad matcha because-

   15. JRJoe Rogan0:35

       Oh, okay, enlighten me. What's the-

   16. AWDr. Andrew Weil0:37

       Uh-

   17. JRJoe Rogan0:37

       What's the deal?

   18. AWDr. Andrew Weil0:37

       You know, it's powdered tea, and it's very, very finely powdered, and it's very labor-intensive to prepare. And, uh, it's got such a huge surface area that it oxidizes very quickly. So if it's not properly packed and stored, it loses its brilliant green color, it turns yellow-green or gray-green, it gets bitter, and loses its taste. And I gotta say, most of the matcha that I see served (laughs) in this country is of that sort, and many-

   19. JRJoe Rogan1:00

       Oh.

   20. AWDr. Andrew Weil1:00

       ... people have never had the good stuff.

   21. JRJoe Rogan1:02

       Well, what's the benefits of matcha? I know there's cognitive benefits.

   22. AWDr. Andrew Weil1:05

       First of all, it's, it's beautiful. I mean, I've never seen a green color like that.

   23. JRJoe Rogan1:08

       Mm.

   24. AWDr. Andrew Weil1:08

       It's just amazing. And the flavor's amazing, but it's the only preparation of tea in which the whole leaf is consumed. Uh, and-

   25. JRJoe Rogan1:15

       Mm.

   26. AWDr. Andrew Weil1:15

       ... and it's grown under special conditions. The leaves are shaded, uh, deep shade for the last three weeks before harvest. So the... in response to that, the leaves produce more chlorophyll, more antioxidants, more of the good stuff. So it's got, uh, you know, much more of the things you want.

   27. JRJoe Rogan1:31

       And this has like a pop top, like Pringles.

   28. AWDr. Andrew Weil1:33

       (laughs) Yeah.

   29. JRJoe Rogan1:35

       Right? Is that... So the matcha's in there?

   30. AWDr. Andrew Weil1:36

       It's gotta stay fresh, and after you open it-
2. 15:00 – 30:00

   Yeah. …

   1. AWDr. Andrew Weil15:00

      of medicine. That's pure healing from within mediated by belief-

   2. JRJoe Rogan15:04

      Yeah.

   3. AWDr. Andrew Weil15:04

      ... unmixed up with the direct effects of treatment. That's what you wanna make happen more of the time.

   4. JRJoe Rogan15:08

      It just is a mind fuck for a lot of people 'cause they're like, "How am I tricking myself into getting better?"

   5. AWDr. Andrew Weil15:12

      (laughs)

   6. JRJoe Rogan15:12

      "Why can't I just do it?"

   7. AWDr. Andrew Weil15:13

      Because that ha- must have something to do with the structure of the brain, that the part of the brain in which our will is, isn't, doesn't connect directly to the machinery of the body, to the-

   8. JRJoe Rogan15:24

      Mmm.

   9. AWDr. Andrew Weil15:24

      ... autonomic nervous system, so you have to find some way of getting around that. One way is to project belief onto something external and then let it work for you.

   10. JRJoe Rogan15:32

       Yeah, but that's so strange that the mind works that way. It would seem like-

   11. AWDr. Andrew Weil15:37

       (laughs)

   12. JRJoe Rogan15:37

       ... wouldn't it be an evolutionary advantage just to have it at access, you know like-

   13. AWDr. Andrew Weil15:41

       (laughs) Sure, that'd be nice.

   14. JRJoe Rogan15:41

       Yeah.

   15. AWDr. Andrew Weil15:41

       But that's the same thing, you know, it's a, a similar problem to why can't you just get high without taking a drug? The high is in your brain, not in the drug. The drug is a trigger that releases it. Why can't we just sit down and say, "Well, I'm gonna be high for the next 10 minutes"?

   16. JRJoe Rogan15:54

       Mmm.

   17. AWDr. Andrew Weil15:54

       It's the same thing. We don't have access to those controls.

   18. JRJoe Rogan15:58

       Yeah, it just seems like that one though, the healing-

   19. AWDr. Andrew Weil16:01

       Yeah.

   20. JRJoe Rogan16:02

       ... and getting better, that one seems like it's something that we should as a culture concentrate on, yet-

   21. AWDr. Andrew Weil16:06

       For sure.

   22. JRJoe Rogan16:07

       ... what we really concentrate on is actual medicine.

   23. AWDr. Andrew Weil16:10

       But one way to concentrate on that is by giving people greater confidence in their body's ability to do that.

   24. JRJoe Rogan16:15

       Mmm, okay.

   25. AWDr. Andrew Weil16:15

       And doctors have great power to do that because patients project a lot of belief on them.

   26. JRJoe Rogan16:19

       Right.

   27. AWDr. Andrew Weil16:20

       I've had many patients over the years who said that the most important thing I did for them was that I was the only doctor who told them they could get better. I mean, astonishing.

   28. JRJoe Rogan16:28

       Mmm.

   29. AWDr. Andrew Weil16:29

       (laughs)

   30. JRJoe Rogan16:29

       Yeah. Is it because doctors are just seeing too many patients and they're overwhelmed and they got legal bills and they have-
3. 30:00 – 45:00

   Xanax? …

   1. AWDr. Andrew Weil30:00

      addictive they are. It's a worse addiction than, than opiate addiction.

   2. JRJoe Rogan30:04

      Xanax?

   3. AWDr. Andrew Weil30:04

      Yeah.

   4. JRJoe Rogan30:04

      Really?

   5. AWDr. Andrew Weil30:05

      Yeah. Yep, yep.

   6. JRJoe Rogan30:06

      Wow, I did not know that.

   7. AWDr. Andrew Weil30:07

      Harder to get off of than opioids.

   8. JRJoe Rogan30:09

      Wow!Now, how do you feel about, um, psychedelic interventions when it comes to, um, e- addictions? Like, it seems that-

   9. AWDr. Andrew Weil30:18

      (sighs) I-

   10. JRJoe Rogan30:18

       ... w- we're hearing more and more about that.

   11. AWDr. Andrew Weil30:20

       Yeah.

   12. JRJoe Rogan30:20

       I know you have a background in that as well.

   13. AWDr. Andrew Weil30:22

       Well, we're especially hearing about the iboga-

   14. JRJoe Rogan30:24

       Mm-hmm.

   15. AWDr. Andrew Weil30:24

       ... and ibogaine.

   16. JRJoe Rogan30:25

       Yeah.

   17. AWDr. Andrew Weil30:25

       This is the African, uh, psychedelic.

   18. JRJoe Rogan30:27

       Yeah.

   19. AWDr. Andrew Weil30:27

       And there are clinics and people using this that claim great success. I don't have firsthand experience. I only know what I've heard and what I've talked to people.

   20. JRJoe Rogan30:34

       Me too.

   21. AWDr. Andrew Weil30:35

       Uh, but sounds good, and I think that most of the psychedelics are so non-toxic, uh, so safe, and in the right hands, I think there's m- many possibilities for, you know, good outcomes.

   22. JRJoe Rogan30:46

       Yeah, they've also had some pretty good results with cigarette cessation, right?

   23. AWDr. Andrew Weil30:50

       Mm-hmm, yep.

   24. JRJoe Rogan30:50

       Um, with, uh, not just iboga, but even with psilocybin.

   25. AWDr. Andrew Weil30:53

       Yep.

   26. JRJoe Rogan30:53

       Apparently, um, they had, uh ... They did a study where they show the difference between someone taking psilocybin to try to quit s- smoking cigarettes and some really large number of people, I think it was in the neighborhood of 80%, quit and then over the course of X amount of years, they were still at 60%.

   27. AWDr. Andrew Weil31:13

       Uh-huh.

   28. JRJoe Rogan31:13

       So, only 20% of those people would come back.

   29. AWDr. Andrew Weil31:14

       That's great.

   30. JRJoe Rogan31:15

       But, um, with other methods, the, the, the number was much smaller-
4. 45:00 – 1:00:00

   I'll leave you some…

   1. JRJoe Rogan45:00

      I'm a big fan of the swears.

   2. AWDr. Andrew Weil45:01

      I'll leave you some papers about the science of swearing.

   3. JRJoe Rogan45:03

      It's interesting.

   4. AWDr. Andrew Weil45:04

      Yeah, it's very interesting.

   5. JRJoe Rogan45:05

      Now, what if, what would, what would happen if they were no longer taboo? Would the same areas-

   6. AWDr. Andrew Weil45:10

      Uh, they'd lose their pow- I think they'd lose their power because-

   7. JRJoe Rogan45:12

      Yeah.

   8. AWDr. Andrew Weil45:12

      ... yeah, right.

   9. JRJoe Rogan45:13

      The same areas of the brain wouldn't, like-

   10. AWDr. Andrew Weil45:15

       No.

   11. JRJoe Rogan45:15

       I remember there was an episode of w- I don't remember what television show, but it was, uh, on CBS.

   12. AWDr. Andrew Weil45:21

       Yeah.

   13. JRJoe Rogan45:21

       And, uh, they had a line at the end of the show, and essentially, they were saying, "Shit happens."

   14. AWDr. Andrew Weil45:27

       (laughs)

   15. JRJoe Rogan45:27

       And it was a big deal.

   16. AWDr. Andrew Weil45:28

       I'll bet.

   17. JRJoe Rogan45:29

       It was a big deal that they wanted to be able to say, "Shit happens."

   18. AWDr. Andrew Weil45:32

       Uh-huh.

   19. JRJoe Rogan45:32

       And apparently, they pulled this off and they got it through.

   20. AWDr. Andrew Weil45:35

       (laughs)

   21. JRJoe Rogan45:35

       And it was like, a 10:00 PM show, so it was okay.

   22. AWDr. Andrew Weil45:37

       (laughs)

   23. JRJoe Rogan45:37

       And it was 11:00 by the time they said shit. And, uh, I remember thinking, like, wow, what a strange sort of like ... How many people were involved in this sort of dance? Like, how many lawyers and executives-

   24. AWDr. Andrew Weil45:49

       Mm-hmm.

   25. JRJoe Rogan45:49

       ... and who ... Like, it's very strange.

   26. AWDr. Andrew Weil45:51

       Very strange.

   27. JRJoe Rogan45:52

       That this one word would tr- Everybody knows the word.

   28. AWDr. Andrew Weil45:55

       Right.

   29. JRJoe Rogan45:55

       It's not even that offensive.

   30. AWDr. Andrew Weil45:56

       So it's kind of a, uh, you know, a g- a kinda game we all play.
5. 1:00:00 – 1:07:46

   California was really ridiculous…

   1. AWDr. Andrew Weil1:00:00

      this.

   2. JRJoe Rogan1:00:00

      California was really ridiculous when they were doing medical. Like, you could just basically go in there and go like, "I can't sleep."

   3. AWDr. Andrew Weil1:00:05

      Right.

   4. JRJoe Rogan1:00:05

      And they go, "Okay."

   5. AWDr. Andrew Weil1:00:06

      Yeah.

   6. JRJoe Rogan1:00:06

      (laughs) There was nothing. Like, I had friends that had, like, long, elaborate excuses they had planned out, like, "You know, I was-"

   7. AWDr. Andrew Weil1:00:15

      (laughs)

   8. JRJoe Rogan1:00:15

      "... I was in a car accident when I was six, and-

   9. AWDr. Andrew Weil1:00:17

      (laughs)

   10. JRJoe Rogan1:00:17

       ... when I go to bed at night, I have these horrible dreams. The only thing that helps me is marijuana. And I'm just trying to feed my family." And then they would go, "Stop, stop, stop." "Yeah, okay. I'll write you a script."... they just give it to you. Like, there was no resistance. Like if you-

   11. AWDr. Andrew Weil1:00:28

       Ah.

   12. JRJoe Rogan1:00:29

       ... my joke was that if you can't get a license for marijuana, you should probably go to a hospital-

   13. AWDr. Andrew Weil1:00:33

       (laughs)

   14. JRJoe Rogan1:00:33

       ... immediately. 'Cause you got a real problem.

   15. AWDr. Andrew Weil1:00:35

       Right.

   16. JRJoe Rogan1:00:35

       They're like, "No, man, you need actual doctors."

   17. AWDr. Andrew Weil1:00:38

       Right.

   18. JRJoe Rogan1:00:38

       (laughs)

   19. AWDr. Andrew Weil1:00:38

       I'll tell you a story. This, this is something that bothers me though. I'm not, I'm not a user of pot now. I was heavily in my earlier life. A friend of mine, a doctor colleagues, uh, in San Francisco sent me some samples of stuff that had come from a medical dispensary in San Francisco, and he wanted me to try them. So one of them was a co- some concentrated oil. It came in a, a little syringe, and it, and had a very elaborate, nicely printed brochure with it that described the use of this for pain. And it said you should start with an amount the size of half a grain of rice. Uh, take it at orally. So-

   20. JRJoe Rogan1:01:12

       What?

   21. AWDr. Andrew Weil1:01:12

       Yeah, my friend said take it at bedtime. So this is a teeny amount, and actually I probably took somewhat less because I was afraid of getting too high on it.

   22. JRJoe Rogan1:01:18

       Good for you.

   23. AWDr. Andrew Weil1:01:18

       So I took it at bedtime, went to sleep, woke up about an hour later in full-blown delirium. I mean visual hallucinations-

   24. JRJoe Rogan1:01:26

       Zzz, zzz, zzz. (laughs)

   25. AWDr. Andrew Weil1:01:27

       ... as strong as I've had on LSD. I couldn't get out of bed. I was, uh, you know, I was immobile.

   26. JRJoe Rogan1:01:31

       Yeah.

   27. AWDr. Andrew Weil1:01:31

       I had burning thirst, I couldn't get up to get a glass of water.

   28. JRJoe Rogan1:01:34

       Mmm.

   29. AWDr. Andrew Weil1:01:34

       I had a friend staying in a guest house, I couldn't call for help.

   30. JRJoe Rogan1:01:38

       (laughs)

Episode duration: 1:52:15