Jim McMahon has long taken a stand against prescription drug abuse from NFL teams and players, and the former Chicago Bears quarterback wants to propose an alternative — legalized marijuana use.
On Sunday, McMahon spoke on a “Cannabis and Athletics” panel at the Southwest Cannabis Conference and Expo in Texas. The Super Bowl XX winner told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that marijuana eases the lingering pain he deals with from his playing days.
“I have arthritis pretty much in all my joints,” McMahon said. “My head problems have been pretty severe at times. [Marijuana] makes all that pain go away. I just forget about the pain.”
McMahon has smoked marijuana since his playing days, but he says he realized how effective it was at treating his post-NFL injuries when he moved to Arizona seven years ago. He says he has a routine buildup of fluid in his head caused by two “cracked and compressed” vertebrae that were never diagnosed during his career. He also said there is “no doubt” he suffers from CTE.
Ricky Williams, a notorious weed smoker, and former NFL defensive end Marvin Washington also joined McMahon on the panel. Both agreed that painkillers and prescription pills are a huge problem for NFL players.
“We want to get the athletes on a plant-based product, instead of getting on the opioids and pharmaceuticals,” Washington said. “There’s two main chemicals in the marijuana plant: One is psychotropic, and that’s THC, which our product has nothing. The other is CBD, which has been shown to have medicinal benefits.”
“We’d have to take pills on a daily basis just to practice,” Williams added. “That’s when I promised myself I was going to find another way to practice.”
Williams was suspended multiple times during his NFL career for testing positive for marijuana, and he has made his stance on those suspensions clear. One former teammate said Williams used to smoke before games.
If you remember, McMahon was one of the most notable names attached to a lawsuit against the NFL over a year ago alleging that the league illegally used prescription medications to mask injuries. Would legalizing marijuana lead to less issues like that? We may never know.
