Despite its plethora of medicinal benefits, cannabis remains a banned substance throughout most professional sporting leagues. Ironically, the NFL, which has had dozens of players clamoring for the legalization of the plant, has historically been amongst the most conservative when it comes to the green. The NFL’s stance on weed remains particularly troubling, considering the violent nature of the sport, and the bevy of health risks attached.
Former Bears quarterback Jim McMahon knows all about the delicate balance of struggling with post-playing career injuries and finding the right medication to heal. For McMahon, pot is unequivocally the most beneficial medicine. The two-time Super Bowl champ has not shied away from discussing his marijuana use, and how it’s helped him ease into a post-playing career.
Now, however, McMahon looks to take his love for the green a step further.
He wants in on the industry.
Jim McMahon And Marijuana
Jim McMahon, now 59, has been open about his marijuana use over the years. Back in 2016, in an interview with the Chicago Tribune, McMahon discussed how marijuana helped him get off opiate painkillers. At one point, McMahon revealed, he was taking over 100 pills a day. Of course, until medical marijuana came into play.
“They were doing more harm than good,” McMahon said of the prescribed opioids.
“This medical marijuana has been a godsend,” he added. “It relieves me of the pain—or thinking about it, anyway.”
McMahon backed up some of those earlier thoughts during an interview with Thuzio, a sports media and events company that produces a weekly series of live interviews with prominent athletes, both current and former.
After elaborating on some of the treatment he receives on his neck, host Teddy Greenstein quipped “God bless modern technology…. and medical marijuana.”
The audience got a good chuckle out of the sidebar, but McMahon remained pretty serious on the subject.
“It shouldn’t just be medical, it should be recreational,” the former gunslinger said. “Everybody should be using it.”
McMahon then began to elaborate on some of the medical advice he’s gotten over the years. Specifically, from a Harvard-educated doctor who gave McMahon the green light to continue medical use of the plant.
“She studied this plant for seven years in Harvard. She said everybody should be using it,” McMahon said. We have a system in our bodies for it. She goes, ‘we don’t have any alcohol deficiencies or tobacco deficiencies. When we get sick we get cannabidiol deficiencies.”
While this may still serve as a shock to some, the advice apparently didn’t have a profound effect on McMahon, due to his own first-hand experiences.
“Well, you don’t have to preach to me, I’ve been using it for 45 years,” McMahon quipped.
However, the former Pro-Bowler admitted he didn’t’ realize just how good cannabis was for the human body until consulting medical experts.
“I didn’t know how good it was for me, I knew it made me feel good, made me sleep, made me eat, McMahon said. “But now that I know how good it is, I’m gonna keep going.”
Jim McMahon To Get In On The Green Rush
But how does one “keep going,” exactly? Well in McMahon’s case, it’s not simply continuing to smoke. It’s about becoming a hands-on member of the legal cannabis industry.
“I’m trying to get in the industry,” he said. “I’m trying to get a dispensary in Los Angeles and a grow area in Blythe, California. That’s what I’m working on now. ”
With California’s recreational market taking shape, he certainly has the tools to make it happen. If there’s any former player with a solid marijuana acumen, it’s Jim McMahon.
