Makua Rothman Talks Drug Use While Surfing Big Waves

“Between 2015 and 2018, I really went off the rails,” Makua said. “I really did a lot of detrimental things to my health. I’d do pills, and be off them on a blocker when I’d compete. It’s wild when I think about what I could have done if I had the mindset that I did previously, or what I have now. I was still good enough to win a world championship, even in that mind space.”

Specifically, Makua discusses his use of opiates. And how, for a while, they were a salve for the insecurity and trauma he was facing in his head. He continued:

“I was taking oxycodone. The worst part about is that I just thought it was cool. I didn’t have any pain. I wasn’t coming from an injury. A lot of people get prescribed them from an injury, and unfortunately, they can’t get off them. For me, that dopamine hit really took away the things I didn’t like about myself. It was the solution to my problem. The pills weren’t the problem; I had an underlying mental health problem of shame, guilt, and I wasn’t man enough to take responsibility for them. I masked them with alcohol. It was cocaine. It was all the above.”

At one point, it got so bad that he was doing drugs while literally in the channel of the world’s biggest and scariest waves. He added:

“I’m lucky I’m not dead. I’ve competed and surfed in the biggest waves. I would go out to Jaws with pills in a pill container, crush ‘em up, snort ‘em, and go back surfing Jaws. I’m just blessed I didn’t drown. I eventually had a moment where I was done. I really wanted to live. I was ready to become Makua again.”

Does he regret it? Sure, in some ways. But he’s also grateful for his past troubles, because they shaped him into the man he is today. Makua said:

“I’m proud of it, because a lot of people don’t make it to this side.”

Good onya, Makua. Listen to the full podcast here.