Former Chicago Bears Stars Want to Smoke Up
For as long as anyone can remember, marijuana has been the evil gateway drug that led you down a deep dark path. Thousands have been arrested for having it, selling it, growing it. Police have been tasked with getting it off the streets with some of the most successful getting recognition and promotions, while those getting caught have lost jobs or have been held back in their careers due to the negative connotations associated with the drug. Millions of dollars have been spent in the attack of this natural plant.
That negative connotation is no longer the case with marijuana. While the plant is still a drug, science has shown us the benefits of using the drug for a number of practical medical uses. These uses have helped chronic migraine issues, to strengthening ones eyes, to fighting cancer.
It may also help with football injuries, at least when asking former Chicago Bears Jim McMahon and Eben Britton.
Last week McMahon and Britton joined former NFL alum Nate Jackson, Charlie Adams, and Leonard Marshall at the Cannabis World Congress and Business Expo last week in New York, and are petitioning the NFL to legalize marijuana for medical reasons. During the panel the former gridiron greats talked about the benefits of cannabis in sport — while playing and after.
“There’s so many uses to this plant,” McMahon said. “Hundreds of thousands of people are dying from [painkillers], and there’s not one case of people dying from the hemp plant.”
McMahon has been using marijuana to help with dementia associated with playing through multiple concussions. Since turning to cannabis as a primary pain killer, McMahon has experienced less pain and less memory lapses according to a Chicago Tribune report. In the article McMahon admitted to taking upwards of 100 Percocet pills a day, which left him with a “fuzziness” which he doesn’t experience with marijuana.
Former Bears offensive tackle Eben Britton had another take on cannabis as well.
“Juxtaposing my experiences with pharmaceutical drugs like Vicodin and Percocet that made me angry and irritable, frustrated, didn’t get rid of any of the pain, made it difficult to sleep, increased my heart rate and made me feel crazy. On the other side of that there’s cannabis that helped me sleep, put me into a healing state of being where I was relieved from stress and anxiety as well as feeling the pain relief.”
Outside of the medical implications cannabis has, many have argued that marijuana should be legal for recreational use as well. Offering arguments of it being a safer choice over tobacco or alcohol.
The drug also has huge financial benefits to the economy as well. In Colorado they saw nearly $1 billion in cannabis business in 2015, and brought in more than $70 million in taxes in 2015 alone. While Washington state expects marijuana sales to bring in an additional $1 billion in taxes over the next four years.
While I’m personally not a drug advocate, and have no skin in this game, the potential benefits medically and financially seem to be enough to continue to ask for the legalization of the drug. I don’t pretend to know any long term effects of using the drug, and most of my knowledge comes from old 80’s sitcoms where a son or daughter was caught smoking and the parents used it as a teaching moment.
So I ask you, should sporting leagues allow the use of marijuana for medical reasons? Answer below!
