Kyle Turley used to get through the day by taking painkillers, muscle relaxers, sleep aids and anti-inflammatory medications.
The outcome for a former All-Pro lineman who said he suffered from more than 100 concussions in football looked grim. Turley has early onset Alzheimer’s disease and symptoms of the degenerative brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) that can only be diagnosed in the deceased.
St. Louis Rams offensive lineman Kyle Turley is seen during a 2004 training camp. (AP Photo/James A. Finley)
Turley, now 41, also suffered from vertigo, depression, rage, migraine headaches and light sensitivity after an eight-year career with New Orleans, St. Louis and Kansas City.
He considered suicide numerous times, including in 2009 when his wife stopped him from jumping out of a third-story window at their home. Turley blamed suicidal and homicidal feelings on psychiatric medications he took. Opioid pain medicine also contributed to his declining health, he said.
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Two years ago, the 6-foot-5, 300-pound bear of a man turned away from the medicine cabinet and began using marijuana. Since then he has become one of the biggest advocates of cannabis for treatment of football injuries and personifies a growing feeling among players that this is the path to better health.
“When you find you’re contemplating suicide you have to make a decision, one way or another,” said Turley, who lives in Riverside. “Otherwise I would have put a bullet in my head a long time ago.”
To this day, Turley needs artificial knee replacements, a hip replacement and back fusion surgery. “I’ve got bone on bone in every joint,” he said. “It’s as bad as it gets.”
Turley, who started the cannabis company Neuro Armour, takes cannabidiol (CBD) oils for some of his body problems. He also uses THC, marijuana’s psychoactive ingredient that gives people a buzz, to deal with psychological scars.
The sativa-dominant strain of cannabis he uses “is better than any psych medication that I’ve ever been given, period,” Turley said. “It deals with my pain, it deals with my stress, and it deals with my CTE.”
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Turley, an assistant high school coach at his alma mater in Moreno Valley, takes cannabis daily but said he doesn’t get high. His wife also treats her skin cancer with a cannabis-based oil.
Turley, a former San Diego State star, was part of the class-action concussion lawsuit that resulted in a $1 billion settlement with the NFL this year. He also was a plaintiff in a suit in U.S. District Court in San Francisco that highlights the abuse of painkillers in the NFL. More than 1,800 former players alleged team physicians and trainers administered massive levels of addictive painkillers to keep them on the field while risking their long-term health. The Broncos, Chargers and Packers are the remaining defendants in a case that could lead to a jury trial.
Turley said he had a two-decade struggle with depression and rage because of an opioid addiction.
Yet, he would play football again without hesitation if Turley could do it with the use of cannabis.
“I guarantee you I wouldn’t have problems I have now,” he said. “I guarantee you Junior Seau and my brothers would be alive now. I wouldn’t take all those drugs I never needed to take that they put in my face and said it would make you better.”
Cannabidiol (CBD) is one of the most common chemical compounds found in the marijuana plant. While CBD can help with mental and physical relaxation, it’s not psychoactive like its more famous molecular cousin tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).
NFL players hope CBD research leads to breakthroughs with treatment for neurological disorders including chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). Cannabidiol also has been linked to helping arthritis, epilepsy, heart disease, insomnia, neuropathic pain, anxiety and schizophrenia.
Cannabinoids look for tissues in the body that express what are called cannabis receptors. They stick to the cells and turn them on to cause the cells to do something, said Richard J. Miller, a Northwestern University pharmacology professor. A lot of the cells that have these receptors are nerve cells in the brain, but also are found in the peripheral nervous system.
Experts say more research is needed before accepting any definitive answers on how CBD might help specific conditions. While scientists have concluded THC acts as a pain reliever, they have yet to determine if CBD has similar qualities.
“Maybe it is good for pain,” said Miller, author of “Drugged: The Science and Culture Behind Psychotropic Drugs.” “There isn’t a very extensive size of scientific literature.”
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CBD products are offered in oils, sprays, vapes, flower buds and edibles, much like THC. Some companies sell hemp-based CBD but it has led to a lot of confusion about what is most effective and what is legal.
Pet treats with CBD are sold to help animals with relaxation, anxiety and pain. The Food and Drug Administration has not approved cannabis products for animals so veterinarians can’t prescribe them.
Marijuana growers are breeding CBD-rich strains of cannabis for those who don’t want the mind-altering effects of THC. But some experts say the two cannabinoids work best in tandem to treat certain ailments.
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U.S. federal law does not differentiate between CBD and THC, making it difficult to get approved clinical trials for the non-psychoactive compound because it is a Schedule 1 drug like heroin.
The drug dronabinol is made from cannabis’ THC molecule and prescribed to treat vomiting and nausea from cancer chemotherapy as well as loss of appetite and weight loss in patients suffering from the HIV infection. No such equivalent drug involving CBD exists yet.
Brazilian professor Francisco Guimaraes told the Washington Post that CBD “is Disneyland for a pharmacologist. There are so many possible mechanisms, so many possible ways it can be useful.”
Players are tested once in the offseason from mid-April to mid-August. Players test positive if found to have 35 nanograms of extracted THC per milliliter of urine. Players must enter an intervention program after one violation. Penalties increase with more violations: from a two-game fine to a 10-game ban for a fifth infraction.
NBA
Players are subject to four random drug screens during the season, but the league doesn’t test for marijuana in the offseason. The league’s threshold of 15 ng/ml is among the strictest, but not its punishment structure. Players must complete a substance-abuse program after their first infraction. Violators face a $25,000 fine for a second positive test. The third violation leads to a five-game ban. Five more games are added on for each positive test thereafter.
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MLB
The league has a threshold of 50 ng/ml but tests players only if MLB or union officials have reasonable cause. Under the joint drug prevention and treatment program, players who don’t comply with a treatment plan are subject to progressive fines up to $35,000 for one violation. Players could be suspended if they “flagrantly disregard” rules or if the commissioner determines they are a threat to other players’ safety. The policy states discipline at this stage is up to the commissioner.
NHL
Marijuana is not on the list of banned substances. Players undergo limited testing for drugs of abuse to monitor their use. Players must enter the league’s substance abuse program after multiple failed tests, but the program is not punitive.
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Olympics (World Anti-Doping Agency)
WADA has set a high threshold of 150 ng/ml for a positive test for cannabis. Violators face suspensions ranging from three months to one year.
MLS
The league doesn’t publicly list its threshold limits for positive tests, but an MLS official said it follows WADA guidelines for marijuana: 150 ng/ml. MLS conducts unannounced testing for all prohibited substances. The league doesn’t have a set number of tests per year for any player.
NCAA
Perhaps the strictest policy in sports, collegians test positive for marijuana at 5 ng/ml. But the NCAA doesn’t have a uniform policy, and the organization and member schools have been easing punishment for those who are caught.
LAS VEGAS (AP) — The display case just inside the front door is filled with the kind of stuff you would find at any sports memorabilia store. Frank Hawkins used to run interference for Marcus Allen back in the day, and there are plenty of signed footballs and pictures of No. 27 in silver and black.
There’s a picture of Hawkins with a former governor of Nevada, and a drawing of the late Raiders owner Al Davis with signatures from players on it. Next to them is a team photo from 1983, and a championship banner with the result of that season’s Super Bowl: Raiders 38, Redskins 9.
A few feet to the left is what is called the “smell room,” one of many signs that this is no memorabilia shop.
Everyone who enters is greeted by a smiling man with a question:
Medical or recreational?
Frank Hawkins speaks with patrons at the Nevada Wellness Center marijuana dispensary in Las Vegas. The former running back for the Raiders has two things that set him apart from most football players, a Super Bowl ring and a thriving pot shop just off the glittering Las Vegas Strip. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Hawkins didn’t set out to be in the marijuana business in the town where he grew up and later became a city councilman. He resisted it at first, mostly because he says he doesn’t smoke the stuff.
Now he sits in a back office at Nevada Wellness Center just a few blocks from the glittering Las Vegas Strip, amid strains of marijuana with names like Devil’s Lettuce, Silver Back Gorilla and Black Afghan.
It’s all legal in a city where almost everything goes. But Hawkins — who opened the first medical marijuana dispensary in town — says it hasn’t been easy.
“We started out losing $50,000 a month,” Hawkins said. “We suffered for a long time.”
That changed on July 1 when Nevada became the fifth state to legalize recreational marijuana. Marijuana shops, which had been competing for a few thousand customers who had medical marijuana cards, could now sell to anyone — including tourists — over the age of 21.
That meant long lines on opening night at the shop Hawkins owns with two partners. It also meant a lot of cash in an industry where, as the sign in the lobby tells customers, business is all conducted in cash.
Things were slower on a recent summer afternoon, when only a few customers came in and headed to the smell room to get a whiff of what they might buy.
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“Back when I was growing up marijuana was a bad word,” Hawkins says. “Now it’s a household name.”
And Hawkins thinks it can be beneficial to football retirees and current players as an alternative to opioid painkillers.
____
Though undersized at 5-foot-9 and 210 pounds, Hawkins ran for 5,333 yards in four years at the University of Nevada, Reno.
The Oakland Raiders drafted him in the 10th round in 1981. He stuck with the team and showed some promise, but the next year the Raiders were salivating over the chance to get the Heisman winner.
“The running backs coach said, ‘You guys ever hear of a guy named Marcus Allen?” Hawkins recalled.
Hawkins became, “a battering ram.” For the next six years, he led the way for Allen. He got some carries of his own, though, and scored two second quarter touchdowns in the AFC Championship game to break open a close game to put the then Los Angeles Raiders in the Super Bowl.
The Raiders would meet the Washington Redskins in Tampa Bay for the championship. They had Jim Plunkett and Allen in the backfield, but most importantly they had an attitude.
“We knew we were going to beat the snot out of them,” Hawkins recalled. “I told everybody at home, bet all you got because there’s no way in the world the Redskins can win.”
The Raiders wore black, and were so dominant the game would become known as “Black Sunday.” Allen ran wild behind Hawkins for 191 yards.
Hawkins ran three times for six yards and caught two passes for 20 more. He won a Super Bowl ring he only brings out on special occasions.
“I don’t want to lose it,” the 58-year-old said. “Somebody might say it was because of CTE.”
Frank Hawkins stands in front of a painting of himself at the Nevada Wellness Center marijuana dispensary in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
The Raiders of past gathered in July in wine country in Northern California, where the team trains. There were 110 former players and the talk was about old times and the resurgence of the team under Mark Davis, son of the late owner Al Davis.
There was also talk about various ailments, and the possibility some former players might have CTE or other brain damage.
Among those in attendance was Plunkett, who the next week would create a stir by telling the San Jose Mercury News that his body was broken down by all the hits he took with the Raiders and that at the age of 69, “My life sucks.”
“He looked good, but a little bit off balance and he lost some weight,” Hawkins said. “He did mention the fact he was in pain.”
So were many of the players at the reunion, one reason they were quite interested in the business Hawkins is in.
“Most of them wanted to know how they could get involved or get one in their city or state,” he said. “I told them any state you’re in I’d be more than happy to come and invest my time and money and get another store opened in their communities.”
____
Marijuana is still a punishable offense in the NFL, and players are subject to suspensions with a second positive test.
Pain pills, on the other hand, are readily available for almost any kind of injury. With the nation immersed in an opioid crisis, a 2011 study showed retired players misuse opioid pain medications at a rate four times that of the general population.
“You got a headache, they give you a pill,” Hawkins said. “You got shoulder pain, they give you pain pills. Whatever your problems are they gave you pills.”
Marijuana, a growing body of research indicates, can reduce pain more effectively than opioids and may be beneficial for concussions. It’s done not with the mind altering Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in the drug, but the cannabis compound Cannabidiol, or CBD.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell was for years a hardliner on the use of marijuana but said last month he has reached out to the player’s union and is willing to fund a study to see if there are benefits.
Hawkins said he doesn’t need a study to be convinced. After a recent hip replacement surgery he had blood clots in his legs that his doctor was treating for six months with blood thinners.
A woman at his shop suggested he try capsules containing CBD that dissolve in water. After taking them for a few weeks, Hawkins said a body scan showed the blood clots had disappeared.
Hawkins estimated 20 percent of current players — some of whom have come into his shop — are using some form of marijuana to relieve pain and inflammation.
“The beautiful thing about the marijuana plant is they don’t have to smoke it to get in the system and they don’t have to get high,” he said. “They can use the CBD part of the plant and not the THC part of the plant. It can be put in soaps, eaten, in mints, you name it.”
____
Hawkins considers himself relatively healthy, though he’s quick to show off scars, including one from a tendon that separated in a 1987 game, eventually leading to his retirement.
He still loves football, though if he had a son he wouldn’t let him play. He’s not so enamored with the NFL, which he believes knew long ago the effects of hits to the head but did nothing about it.
“I understand the NFL from a business perspective,” he said. “I don’t like it from a personal perspective.”
Hawkins also understands people may view him differently because he sells marijuana. He says he’s OK with recreational use, though it’s the medical side he’s most excited about.
“Folks who have PTSD to trauma to football injury or have cancer it works on all of them,” he said. “And it’s certainly better than the opioids they give players.”
Former NBA commissioner David Stern envisions a champion for cannabis who helps change the league’s stance on medical marijuana.
Al Harrington might just be that person.
The 16-year NBA veteran sat down with Stern as part of his video “The Concept of Cannabis” — which Uninterrupted dropped Wednesday, towidespreadattention. During their in-depth conversation, Harrington asked Stern why he thinks the NBA has yet to yield its view of the consumption of weed as a violation.
“I don’t think there’s been a proper spokesperson for this subject,” Stern told Harrington, who played two-plus seasons with the Warriors. “I think if legal marijuana is available, then it’s up to the individual and doctor. You tell me it worked for you and it worked for others that you know, then we should find a way to get that defined and made official and then proceed to educate the team docs.”
Stern seemed to complete a change of mind on marijuana in the NBA while talking with Harrington.
“I’m now at the point where, personally, I think it probably should be removed from the ban list,” Stern said. “I think we have to change the collective bargaining agreement and let you do what is legal in your state.
“If marijuana is now in the process of being legalized, I think you should be allowed to do what’s legal in your state.”
Twenty teams play in places where medical marijuana has been legalized and seven teams are in states where weed is completely legal.
“I think there’s universal agreement that marijuana for medical purposes should be completely legal,” said Stern, noting a report by CNN’s Sanjay Gupta heavily influenced him.
Harrington first found healing powers in CBD, the compound of cannabis that allegedly eases physical pain, after a series of knee injuries he had while with the Nuggets (one of the teams now in the latter category).
“I immediately felt the difference,” Harrington said of his first experience with CBD.
Stern asked Harrington whether his doctor prescribed him the medication.
“I was self-prescribing myself through people in the industry,” Harrington said. “They told me it wouldn’t hsow up on a test — which it never did. I’ve never, ever been in a program, my 16-year career.”
That fact elicited a “that’s interesting” from Stern.
Harrington estimated that as much as 70 percent of professional athletes (as well as some coaches and owners) partake in pot.
“I think it’s that big,” he said.
Harrington explained in the video, following his NBA career, he became a cannabis entrepreneur. His mindset on such a profession “completely flipped” from the common perception of a drug dealer, he said, and he has invested $3.5 million in his cannabis company named after his grandmother. Viola Extracts has facilities in Denver, Detroit and Portland — plus has plans to expand into Jamaica and California. (He even brought a bag of products for Stern, who gracefully accepted them contingent on their legality).
Harrington noted people’s worries about what to tell their children in concern to cannabis. His daughter asked about him smoking and he told her it was for his “aches and pains,” that it is “like my medicine.” He predicted that by the time his kids grow up, “It will be normal to them.”
Stern’s newly enlightened stance certainly shows such a paradigm shift overall. During his 30 years as commissioner, Stern was popular amongst both owners and players. His latest view should lead to change.
For now, the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement assesses entrance into the league’s drug treatment program and a second violation incurs a fine of $25,000. A third strike gets a five-game suspension.
Harrington sounds like he wants that to change. His mission may have found some steam to go with it’s unofficial spokesperson.
Contrary to popular belief, cannabis use doesn't have to lead straight to couch lock. Our special report looks at ways cannabis enthusiasts are pairing their favorite plant with their favorite activities to get their heart rates going.
Before Tyler Hurst sets out for his morning run, he slips on a pair of those shoes that fit each toe like a glove. Then he takes a few hits off a vape pen packed with Agent Orange, a particularly uplifting strain of cannabis.
“The chemicals that are released in our brains when we run are the same ones that are released when we get high,” said Hurst, 38, a freelance writer and recreational runner who lives in Phoenix.
“I just run a lot better once I have my runner’s high.”
Tyler Hurst during the 420 Games in Portland in 2016. Hurst incorporates cannabis into his running routine. (Courtesy of Tyler Hurst)
Forget the stereotype that suggests weed creates junk food-loving couch potatoes. Hurst is part of a fast-growing world of athletes — from pros to weekend fitness enthusiasts — who are incorporating cannabis into regular workouts and competitions.
Some are tapping into marijuana’s psychoactive effects to quiet the brain during intense yoga sessions and other mind-oriented sports, such as running or swimming. Others use cannabis products that don’t make them high but instead create effects that users insist help them train harder and longer, with less pain and faster recovery times.
New science is emerging to support some of those claims. Research suggests marijuana can keep muscle spasms at bay, prevent inflammation — even reduce the likelihood of brain injuries.
The governing bodies for most sports still ban cannabis, citing the drug’s complicated legal status while alternately labeling it as either too helpful or too harmful to athletic performance. That’s led to a string of athletes facing fines and suspensions over weed.
But cracks in those bans are starting to appear. Everything from the growing push for marijuana legalization, outrage over the use of prescribed opioids and fears about the long-term effects of concussions are all prompting sports to look again at weed.
The World Anti-Doping Agency, which regulates drug use for the Olympics, announced earlier this month that in 2018 it will no longer ban CBD, the compound in cannabis thought to have the most medical benefits without any mind-altering effects. And leaders in the NFL, NBA and other American pro sports leagues are starting to reconsider their cannabis policies.
Another factor is the nature of stories told by retired sports figures who increasingly are speaking out about how cannabis helped them.
“We’ve been fundamentally misled,” said Riley Cote, who co-founded Athletes for Care, an organization that helps athletes adjust to life after sports.
Cote said he smoked cannabis throughout his eight seasons in pro hockey, including three years as a left winger for the NHL’s Philadelphia Flyers.
Though weed was (and is) a violation of league policy, Cote said he took the risk because cannabis helped him manage pain, anxiety and sleep issues.
He was hardly alone. In every league, Cote said he found “a decent-sized group of guys” who chose marijuana over painkillers to treat and even prevent injuries on the ice.
“I view cannabis as a holistic phenomena,” Cote said. “This is a universal healer.”
Such voices are helping this trend of mixing weed and fitness catch on, with everyone from elite athletes to regular folk trying to lose a few pounds jumping on board.
A growing trend
In San Francisco, a marijuana-friendly gym is slated to open next year. Infused yoga classes, in which cannabis consumption is part of the routine, are popping up everywhere. And the 420 Games, a series of runs and other competitions, is an increasingly popular multi-city event aimed at promoting the idea that weed can be part of an athletic lifestyle.
Runners do yoga to stretch out during the 420 Games in Santa Monica in 2016. (Photo by Larry Gassan)
There’s also cannabis-oriented gear and products aimed at people who love sport, including topical creams and recovery serums. And some athletes, such as Tanner Hall — a well-known freestyle skier and former X-Games champion — are coming out with their own marijuana product lines.
Cannabis company Weedmaps recently backed a skateboarding competition at Venice Beach, while Illinois cultivator Cresco Labs has been a sponsor of the Chicago marathon.
In August, prior to fighting in the undercard for the Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor bout in Las Vegas, boxer Andrew Tabiti entered the ring wearing a hat from sponsor FlavRx, a San Diego company that makes cannabis edibles and concentrates.
Ultramarathoner Avery Collins is sponsored by multiple cannabis companies, including Colorado-based edibles company Incredibles.
Collins reached out to Incredibles a couple years ago, company co-founder Bob Eschino said, to let them know he was using their energy bars as fuel before long runs. Eschino said it felt like a “great match” to back the young runner.
“The one thing my company has tried to do is change some of the perspectives that are out there about cannabis users,” Eschino said. “As more and more athletes come out, I think it’s very important to showcase them and help break some of the stereotypes.”
How it works
The pairing of sports and cannabis makes sense to Greg Gerdeman, a Florida neuroscientist who for 20 years has studied how marijuana works in the brain.
He was a graduate student in Vanderbilt University’s pharmacology program in the mid-1990s, when scientists first started to understand the endocannabinoid system.
Humans produce a range of chemical compounds called endocannabinoids. They help keep our bodies stable by binding to receptors on cell membranes and controlling the release of chemical messengers that regulate everything from how we experience pain to our moods.
While our endocannabinoid systems naturally help maintain a state of homeostasis, or stability, we can be thrown off balance by physical conditions such as multiple sclerosis, certain cancer treatments and strenuous physical activity. That’s when introducing cannabinoids produced outside the body might help.
Professional BMX riders demonstrate different tricks during the 420 Games at the Santa Monica Pier on Saturday, April 1, 2017. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Contributing Photographer)
Marijuana contains dozens of cannabinoids — the most well-known of which are CBD and THC, the latter being the compound that makers consumers high. These cannabinoids are not identical to the compounds our bodies produce, but some seem to act in much the same way, helping to reduce swelling, dull nerve pain, improve volatile moods and more.
Gerdeman was involved in a 2012 study suggesting the joy that many runners and other endurance athletes feel is linked to an increase in our bodies’ cannabinoid production. Boosting that affect by adding plant-based cannabinoids might then encourage better health, he said, by making workouts and competitions more enjoyable.
The brain also releases cannabinoids in response to injury, Gerdeman said — whether it’s a stroke or a hard hit from a linebacker. That shows cannabinoids are neuroprotectants, he said, meant to help keep the brain safe. And so — while rigorous research in this area is needed — he said it’s reasonable to argue that using cannabis might help prevent brain injuries in football players and other athletes who regularly take hard hits to the head.
When he played hockey, Cote was known as a fighter, estimating he got into at least 250 fights over the years. He’s convinced that steady cannabis use helped him come out the other end with no signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, which is plaguing so many athletes in contact sports.
There’s also good evidence that proper doses of cannabis can help reduce anxiety and inflammation, both of which can hold athletes back.
Hurst explains the effect of running on cannabis like this: “I noticed that I feel just as relaxed before a race as I do after. And I feel just as strong after a race as I do at the beginning.”
Many of these touted benefits for athletes are still anecdotal, said Dr. Ari Greis, a Pennsylvania physician who specializes in rehabilitative medicine and pain management. He said that’s partly because the federal government still classifies marijuana as a Schedule I drug, which makes all research — and human trials in particular — extremely difficult.
A study by Australian pharmacologist Michael C. Kennedy, published in September’s Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, found only 15 studies published in English have even examined the impact of THC on exercise.
There are studies showing THC can elevate heart rates, which Greis said could be bad news for someone who already has a heart condition or is new to working out.
Still, some athletes have spoken so fondly about the benefits of cannabis that opponents have suggested it should be considered a performance-enhancing drug.
But Kennedy’s review of the research done so far found that THC doesn’t enhance either strength or aerobic endurance.
Greis also points out that THC can impact motor coordination and reaction times, which is why people can’t legally drive while high. So, even though some experienced consumers can function at very high levels, he said it doesn’t make sense that athletes would perform better after smoking weed that’s potent in THC.
Hurst, the runner from Phoenix, agrees.
“There’s nothing I can do high that I can’t do sober,” Hurst said. “It just feels better.”
How to mix weed with your workout
For people interested in incorporating cannabis into their fitness routines, experts offer these tips.
Get to know marijuana laws. Only eight states allow recreational consumption. People in 30 states can use cannabis medicinally, though most states have strict rules about what conditions qualify. Also, most states have rules against public consumption and smoking is banned in all national parks and other federal properties.
Know the rules of your sport. Pro athletes are told to abide by rules of their governing league or organization, which often ban THC or all cannabis compounds. But even amateur athletes may run into bans if they decide to participate in sanctioned marathons or other regulated events.
Learn the difference between CBD and THC. CBD doesn’t make consumers high, but it is believed to have some value in reducing inflammation, muscle spasms and anxiety. A version of CBD is sold to the public, through stores such as Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods. THC is marijuana’s main psychoactive component, and is legal only in states that allow recreational cannabis or with a doctor’s recommendation in states that have legalized medical marijuana. It is said to help athletes with focus, energy and dulling pain, though it also reduces reaction time and possibly cognitive skills in young people.
Start slowly. Greis suggests that anyone new to cannabis or anyone starting to incorporate cannabis into their workout routine should start slowly and, initially at least, avoid THC during workouts. Some studies show THC can elevate heart rates, a potential problem for someone who already has a heart condition or is new to working out.
Think beyond smoking. While there’s little evidence that smoking marijuana poses serious risks of cancer or limiting lung capacity, Gerdeman says smoking cannabis can cause coughing and excess phlegm. He recommends athletes consider vaporizing whole cannabis flowers or trying tinctures, topical balms and other products on the market. Other options include cannabis-infused edibles, though those take time to kick in and can be tricky to properly dose.
Jon Kennedy with NORML Athletics, a fitness-focused division of the cannabis advocacy group NORML, hopes the “stoner stereotype” — which suggests cannabis and exercise don’t mix — will fade.
“It’s not so much about following this structured program that includes cannabis in a deliberate, measured way,” Kennedy said. “It’s more along the lines of creating a system where everyone values exercise and does a little bit every day.”
To read more of our special report on Cannabis & Fitness, click here. To subscribe to The Cannifornian’s email newsletter, click here.
Yoga is an ancient practice that helps many find balance and a sense of wholeness. Cannabis is also a form of medicine that helps people understand and heal their own bodies on a deeper level. Put the two together, and cannabis-enhanced yoga classes are an experience not to be missed.
As with all things related to cannabis, there are several options for an enhanced yoga experience.
In your area, there may be cannabis-centric yoga classes offered by certified yoga teachers in a private residences where cannabis is complimentary and is often available in flower, edible, and/or tincture form. Usually, time is provided both before and after class for “elevating,” and tea. A medical card is sometimes required, but not always. Check the registration details so you know what to expect.
Or you may want to check out the classes at a dispensary where you’re already a member.
Taking a yoga class at your local cannabis club isn’t what you think. It isn’t necessarily doing yoga in a smoke-filled room. It may be a well-seasoned cannabis user’s first time doing yoga, or an experienced yoga practitioner’s first time using medical marijuana. In fact, at Harborside, Oakland, you don’t need to consume cannabis at all to participate in yoga classes — you simply need to be a member of the collective.
After becoming a member, you can access many comprehensive wellness services, including acupuncture, chiropractic care, reiki, tai chi and, of course, yoga – all for free. However, cannabis is not dispensed at these classes, so if to take the class in an elevated state, you need to BYOC (bring your own cannabis).
Also, because a dispensary can get busy, it’s important to make an appointment as the yoga classes are popular offerings and tend to fill up. The nice thing about going to a yoga class at your local dispensary is that the classes tend to be capped on the small side – at Harborside, there’s a six-person limit per class. Capping the classes lends itself well to being tailored to your body’s individual needs and is accessible for all levels and body types.
The wellness room is stocked with all the props, including yoga mats, blocks, straps and bolsters, and had a clean, calm feeling inside. I took a private 60-minute class with Hillary Russak, who had already worked with clients on sciatic pain, sleeplessness, and how to move with a dislocated elbow, before I arrived. She emphasized that “This is a health clinic, and yoga is part of the holistic healing offered here.” Hillary guided me through some myofascial release techniques (which I could use at home!), helped me with my overall body alignment, and we finished with some simple asanas. Private sessions at a regular yoga studio usually run upward of $90, so it was a treat to get one-on-one attention at no additional cost.
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Positive aspects of yoga at Harborside:
Lots of individual attention and tailoring to your wellness needs
Healing from pain + injuries
Accessible for all income levels and body types
Multigenerational community of care
Offers a range of health offerings, including acupuncture, chiropractic, reiki, massage and Tai Chi
Downsides:
If you’re looking for an enhanced yoga class experience, you will need to medicate beforehand.
You do have to show your card and ID several times before getting to the yoga space. It might feel a little hectic initially, depending on how busy the dispensary is.
So, go forth and stretch it out, regardless of whether you plan to elevate for your yoga experience. Here are places around the state that offer cannabis-infused classes or are offered by cannabis clubs.
Oakland
Ganja Yoga Oakland< – Jess Dugan leads hatha-flow classes every Tues. and Thurs. from 7-9:00 p.m. The fee is $25, which includes complimentary cannabis.
Lighting it up on the golf course may mean more than playing well, now that voters have made marijuana legal in California.
It’s no secret, however, that some golfers have been getting high for years on courses here and across the country.
“I play most of my rounds with a nice buzz,” said a golfer at Santa Anita who asked to remain anonymous. “First off, I enjoy it. Secondly, I think I play better; I concentrate more on the swing or putt. And third … well, third, huh? I don’t remember third.”
Then he laughed and said he was playing to the stereotype of the forgetful stoner.
“I’ve had my best rounds – in the low 70s a few times, even – when I was relaxed and loose,” he said. “At a different altitude, you might say.”
Improvement in golf skills when high is a common belief among those who, before recreational marijuana became legal in California on Nov. 9, indulged illegally.
“It’s been illegal all my life,” said a member of an L.A. County course’s men’s club while on the range. “That never stopped me. Sometimes when I stand over a putt and I’ve got the right buzz on, I just know I’m going to make the putt and stroke it so smooth. It will seem strange that it’s legal.”
Smoking marijuana on a golf course still is not permitted under the Proposition 64, which California voters ratified with a 56 percent majority. That’s because the ballot measure does not allow marijuana smoking “in any public place (other than a business licensed for on-site consumption).”
Smoking in public is also banned in Colorado, Alaska, Oregon and Washington, the first states to legalize recreational use of the drug.
“Legalization hasn’t changed anything, whether they are smoking or aren’t on the golf course,” said Rex Smith, director of golf operations at Bandon Crossings in Oregon. “You don’t notice it, and we’re not selling any less beer.”
There’s a group called Fore-twenty in Oregon that claims it hosts the “largest cannabis golf tournament in the Pacific Northwest.” This year it will be on June 29 in Oregon City at Stone Creek, which opens the place to a host of clever nicknames.
Some people who play and work in the game don’t see recreational legalization becoming a worrisome issue.
“It won’t cause any problems, not more than a six-pack. But I’m not happy to see it personally,” said a starter at a high-end Coachella Valley golf course. “I don’t think smoking marijuana is a good example for the kids. But I think on the golf course, smokers will be respectful.”
(Photo by Tom Hill)
A longtime golfer from the Palm Springs area said being cautious and thoughtful will be important moving forward.
“I never smoke around anyone on the course I don’t have a good feeling about,” the golfer, who requested anonymity, said after a round at Indian Canyons in Palm Springs. “Usually I don’t even smoke at all. I like to eat a gummy when I get to the course and hopefully I feel it about the time I tee off.”
Not only are edibles, such as gummy bears infused with marijuana, replacing smoke as a method of imbibing for many, non-THC products, such as cannabidiol (CBD) oil, are being used by people with no interest in marijuana’s psychological effects.
“I rub some CBD oil on my shoulders and the back of my neck every morning,” said a 62-year-old public course player from West Covina. “My shoulders are so sore when I get up; but they don’t bother me as much with the CBD oil. Then again, I probably have fewer aches and pains when I’m golfing than I do most other times.”
Dr. Robert Olson, a surgeon before becoming a medical marijuana physician, has witnessed the evolution from smoke to vape, edibles to drinkables and CBD oils to lotions.
“We don’t recommend for anyone to smoke,” he said at his Greenview Medical office in Upland. “There are so many non-smoke alternatives that produce the desired effects. When you go to a clinic they’ll show you all of the products available and can discuss the effects they produce.”
Until November’s vote, players who wanted to smoke or use creams or lotions infused with marijuana and not break the law had to have a doctor’s recommendation for medical marijuana use.
“Half the guys hitting here on the range probably already have their medical,” golfer Davis Williams said at a public course in Anaheim. “If they’re under 30 or over 50, there’s a good chance they use something, from Advil to sativa.”
Since the legalization of medical marijuana in 1996 under the Compassionate Use Act, marijuana has become accepted in California, now one of eight states and Washington, D.C., to recognize (and tax) recreational pot.
“I’ve had a license for years,” said a golfer at Rancho Park in L.A. “I get it delivered right to my condo. It’s crazy, when you think back 40 years.”
Olson recommends speaking with a doctor before starting to consume cannabis for medical purposes.
“For those who don’t want any of the associated psycho-active effects,” he said, “the CBD oils and tinctures can provide direct pain relief without getting you high.”
(Illustration by Trinity Powells)
When asked about possible marijuana use on the course, golfer Eddie Cabot, with a recently purchased six-pack of beer from the Jurupa Hills clubhouse in hand, was adamant about his stance.
“I don’t like to smoke,” he said. “It makes me stupid and I don’t like that.”
Still, golf has a long association with inebriation, though statistical data is difficult to find. Anecdotally, many of us who have played hundreds of rounds would likely say that 10 to 50 percent of golfers consume alcohol during a Saturday round, though only a small percentage end up drunk.
“I’ve played with some guys who drink too much,” said a golfer at Whispering Lakes in Ontario. “There’s one guy I won’t play with in our men’s club because he’s usually drunk by the turn. The guys I played with today are friends of mine for a long time; we shared a joint on the third tee. Nobody played that well, but nobody got sloppy, either.
“Seriously, the other thing is I can get high before the round or sometime on the front 9, and by the time I finish, like today, and have to drive home, I’m sober,” he continued. “I can’t say that about some of the beer drinkers I’ve played with.”
Dr. Bob Baker, a former emergency room physician who now specializes in medical marijuana, cautions against mixing beer and pot.
“Although there are no serious adverse drug-drug interactions with cannabis,” he said, “it should not be mixed with alcohol or sedatives because of the uncertainty of the combined effects upon one’s level of consciousness, judgment and coordination.”
The lack of concentration marijuana sometimes produces as a side effect can also impact a round.
“I had one day when I couldn’t chip and, on one hole, I must have hit the ball four or five times in 25 yards to get on the green,” a player recalled while in the bar at Mountain Meadows in Pomona. “I seriously couldn’t remember after 3-putting how many times I hit it. I ended up calling it a triple with an X.”
The anonymous golfer from Santa Anita offered another perspective.
“When I play well, it doesn’t matter how much I smoked,” he said. “Afterwards, I remember every shot.”
As professional and amateur sports leagues slowly begin to change their rules on cannabis use, more athletes are speaking out about their appreciation for cannabis. Some have actually signed sponsorship deals with cannabis providers, while others use the freedom that comes with being retired to raise their voices. Here’s a look at some of the more prominent names associated with marijuana in sports.
Ricky Williams (football)
Former Heisman Trophy winner and NFL running back Ricky Williams famously announced his (temporary) retirement from football after testing positive for marijuana in 2004. Now fully retired, Williams opened up about his marijuana use to Sports Illustrated in 2016. (AP Photo/Adam Nadel)
Nick Diaz (mixed martial arts)
Mixed martial artist Nick Diaz, seen here in a 2011 fight in San Jose, became an unwitting poster boy for cannabis when a positive drug test got him a five-year suspension from UFC — even though his opponent, Anderson Silva, faced only a one-year suspension after being caught with three different steroids in his system. Diaz told High Times in a 2015 interview that “if I’m going to train all day, when I get done, I’m gonna want to smoke.” (Jim Gensheimer/Cannifornian)
Kyle Turley (football)
Former NFL lineman Kyle Turley is unambiguous about his support for cannabis: It’s “is better than any psych medication that I’ve ever been given, period. It deals with my pain, it deals with my stress, and it deals with my CTE.” (AP Photo/James A. Finley)
Jim McMahon (football)
Super Bowl champion Jim McMahon, famous for his spiky hair and unique style in his playing days, told the Chicago Tribune last year that medical marijuana had been a “godsend” to him, helping get him off a habit of 100 Percoset tablets a month. (AP Photo)
Rob Van Dam (pro wrestling)
Former WWE champion Rob Van Dam told the Washington Post in 2016 that “If I want to relax and just chill out, consuming cannabis can help with that. If I want to be active, if I’m going to go work out or have a match, then it can help with that, too.”(Eugene H. Louie/Cannifornian archive)
Bill Walton (basketball)
Retired basketball star Bill Walton has never publicly acknowledged using marijuana. He does wear an above-average amount of tie dye and loves the Grateful Dead, though. Early this year, he was seen on video at the end of an ESPN commercial break, saying “marijuana should not be a Schedule 1 drug, and all the people who have been in trouble for it for all these years … just blanket amnesty, and let’s move on to the future.” For bonus points, he did it while wearing an Uncle Sam costume. (AP Photo, File)
Ronda Rousey (mixed martial arts)
Former UFC champion Ronda Rousey wasn’t shy in leaping to the defense of fellow fighter Nick Diaz after his suspension, saying “I’m against them testing for weed at all. It’s not a performance-enhancing drug, it has nothing to do with the competition and it’s only because of political reasons.” (AP Photo/John Locher)
Ross Rebagliati (snowboarding)
Olympic snowboarder Ross Rebagliati won a gold medal, then had it stripped away after he tested positive for marijuana, then had it reinstated. Since those fateful days in the late ’90s, Rebagliati has gone on to found his own medical cannabis firms, Ross’ Gold. (AP Photo/CP, Paul Chiasson)
Jake Plummer (football)
Former NFL quarterback Jake Plummer, who endured years of punishing tackles by defensive players, has become an outspoken advocate for cannabis since his retirement. Appearing at the Cannabis World Expo, Plummer told the audience that “the game (of football) isn’t getting any safer. Players shouldn’t be punished for wanting a healthier option (for pain management).” (Donald Miralle/Getty Images)
Riley Cote (hockey)
Former Philadelphia Flyer Riley Cote, left, said he was introduced to cannabis in his teens, but didn’t fully appreciate is potential for pain relief until he began his hockey career. Since retiring, Cote has started the Hemp Heals Foundation, which seeks to “educate, inspire and empower” people about cannabis’ benefits. (Jim Gensheimer/Cannifornian)
Floyd Landis (cycling)
Floyd Landis’ most high-profile experience with drugs didn’t involve marijuana. Seen here with team partner Lance Armstrong, left, Landis was found guilty of using performance-enhancing drugs and stripped of his 2006 Tour de France title. He strenuously fought the charges before later admitting to drug use and quitting cycling. Last year, he founded Floyd’s of Leadville, a line of CBD-only cannabis products. (AP Photo/Miguel Riopa)
Nate Jackson (football)
Former NFL tight end Nate Jackson said in a New York Times op-ed that many NFL players are not only familiar with marijuana, but most prefer it to traditional pain medications. “The fact that they made it to the N.F.L. at all means that their marijuana use is under control,” he said. (Jamie Schwaberow/Cannifornian archive)
Tanner Hall (freestyle skiing)
Freestyle skier Tanner Hall is sponsored by Mary’s Medicinals; while many say cannabis shouldn’t be banned because it’s not a performance-enhancing drug, Hall claims the opposite. ““It helps with the stress, with the anxiety,” he told the New Yorker in 2016. “And then, afterwards, as a relaxing agent and pain reliever.” (Cristophe Simon/Getty Images)
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On Monday, California became the nation’s sixth state to legalize the recreational use of marijuana through the passage of 2016’s Proposition 64.
On Tuesday afternoon, Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr expressed support for the drug.
“I’m a proponent of it,” Kerr said after Tuesday’s practice.
“I do feel strongly that (marijuana) is a much better option than some of the prescription drugs and I know that it’s helping a lot of people, which is great.”
The legalization of the drug is expected to bring in more than $5 billion to the state’s economy, according to a 2017 state-sponsored study. Dispensaries opened throughout the Bay Area Jan. 1 to long lines, with some waiting outside of Berkeley Patients Group lined up at 4 a.m.
Kerr admitted to using marijuana as an alternative to opioids during his rehabilitation from back surgery in 2015, though he admitted the drug didn’t help the pain. Still, Kerr advocates for marijuana’s usage over prescription medication.
“I do feel strongly that [marijuana] is a much better option than some of the prescription drugs and I know that it’s helping a lot of people, which is great,” Kerr said.
In October, Kerr even expressed optimism that drug would one day be legalized in the NBA.
“I do think it’ll happen eventually,” Kerr said prior to an Oct. 25 matchup against the Toronto Raptors.
The tricky part in the institution of the drug, according to Kerr, would be the perception of the drug by the league’s fanbase. However, Kerr admitted there’s one thing that may overrule the opinions of the fans.
“The perception of the fans is important,” said Kerr. “In terms of selling our business, but the health of the players should be the most important thing.”
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The New Year didn’t just usher in a new era of legal adult-use marijuana in California. It also marked the end of prohibition of the cannabis compound cannabidiol in world sport.
In late September, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) announced it would remove cannabidiol from the prohibited substances list. The ruling by the agency which develops the drug code upheld by more than 660 sports organizations, including International Olympic Committee (IOC) and U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), went into effect Jan. 1.
The move overturns part of what the New York Times called the Ross Rebagliati Rule— the 1998 blanket ban on marijuana in Olympic competition instituted after the Canadian snowboard Gold Medalist tested positive for trace amounts of marijuana at the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics.
Removing CBD from the banned substances list is a step in the right direction for international cannabis reform, Rebagliati told The Cannabist. If WADA and the IOC move away from prohibition, other countries may follow suit and consider cannabis reform at home, he said.
The Canadian snowboarder was stripped of his gold medal, but the IOC’s decision was overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport because there was no clear provision for marijuana testing during the Nagano Games. Rebagliati has since taken up “the cannabis torch” and in 2013 he founded Canadian medical marijuana company Ross’ Gold.
If nothing else, Texas Wesleyan baseball coach Mike Jeffcoat is, er, blunt.
Now, according to CBS 4 Denver, the onetime Giants pitcher, is out of a job. The TV outlet reported that the school had scheduled a news conference for Thursday morning to address the situation.
Jeffcoat, terminated as head baseball coach at the private Fort Worth university, has strident political and social views. How strident? According to Yahoo Sports, and confirmed by the Houston Chronicle, he recently rejected a potential recruit because the player came from Colorado, which legalized recreational marijuana in 2012. The email subsequently, inevitably found its way to Twitter:
Needless to say, the email created a hashed-up controversy.
“We’re definitely aware of the email sent out by our baseball coach and the comments he made are in no way a reflection of Texas Wesleyan University, its values or its recruiting practices,” said school spokesman John Veilleux.
The school also published this tweet:
Texas Wesleyan does not condone discrimination. Read our response here: https://t.co/gDLDyQupjO
Jeffcoat, a former major league pitcher according to his bio on the university’s website — he played for the Giants for most of the 1985 season in that liberal mecca of San Francisco — led his team to 12 30-win seasons in 16 years at Texas Wesleyan. Interestingly enough, his roster included one player from Colorado and two from California, where medical and recreational use of marijuana is legal.
DALLAS — Blaming Colorado for the nation’s drug problem is absurd, and heckling an innocent kid over his state’s political policies is cruel, which is why Mike Jeffcoat is out of a job.
The former major-league relief pitcher was fired as head baseball coach at Fort Worth’s Texas Wesleyan University after he sent a bizarre response to a high school senior in Aurora, Colo., who had expressed respectful interest in the program.
“We are not recruiting players from the state of Colorado,” Jeffcoat e-mailed 18-year-old Gavin Bell. “In the past, players have had trouble passing our drug test. We have made a decision to not take a chance on student-athletes from your state. You can thank your liberal politicians. Best of luck wherever you decide to play.”
The reference was clearly to Colorado’s liberal marijuana laws, which permit legal sales and possession of cannabis products. To date, 19 states have legalized marijuana for medical or recreational use.
Bell shared this startling message with his coaches and teachers, and the exchange went viral. TWU authorities fired Bell, making him approximately the 100 millionth American to learn the hard way that foolish or offensive e-mails and social media posts will come back to bite you.
TWU President Fred Slabach announced at a news conference that Jeffcoat “is no longer an employee … due to the discriminatory remarks contained in an email to a potential recruit from the state of Colorado,” as well as to an unrelated possible violation of player eligibility rules.
“My intention wasn’t trying to get this guy fired,” said Gavin, who really does seem like an awfully nice kid, in an interview with a Denver television station. “My intention was just to try to play baseball.”
TWU didn’t respond when I e-mailed to ask whether it really has had an abundance of Colorado recruits flunking drug tests. They’re justifiably ready for this viral episode to exhaust its 15 minutes; Coloradans and their “liberal politicians” will no doubt make a full recovery as well.
What really struck me about the Jeffcoat imbroglio, though, was that it illustrates our utter inability to understand or address our nation’s deeply destructive drug problem.
Perhaps it’s because the scourge is so widespread that no one in authority can seem to get beyond the margins, obsessing on one sub-issue at a time. While we have all been hyper-focused on opioid addictions to prescription painkillers and street drugs, there has reportedly been a furious resurgence in the prevalence of methamphetamines.
While this country wages war on south-of-the-border cartels, cheap new synthetics are pouring in from underground labs in China. While we bicker over whether Grandpa should be able to buy pot brownies to relieve his sciatica, legions of Americans know how to obtain illegal and unregulated drugs with the ease of buying a candy bar. We recognize the futility of imprisoning people for simple drug offenses, but we’re chronically short of treatment options.
We waste millions on testing employees in every sector for minor marijuana use. Yet some industries say they’re recruiting refugees from other countries because too many U.S. citizens flunk screenings for deadly drugs like heroin and meth.
We just don’t have enough fingers to poke in all these holes. And we lack a sense of proportion about which problems demand the most urgency. I’m no expert, but I doubt Colorado’s pot policy ranks at the top of the list.
It should be noted that Jeffcoat’s perspective might cost him some seriously valuable recruits. If current-day MLB greats Kris Bryant, Bryce Harper or Joey Gallo were just starting out today, Jeffcoat would give them a pass: All three are from Nevada, which allows recreational marijuana use. Washington, Colorado, Oregon and other states manage to balance legalized pot with valuable professional sports franchises and robust college programs.
Reducing drug use to a simple binomial screening test — yes or no, pass or fail — completely ignores the complexities of this issue: which substances we can or cannot trust adults to use responsibly; why some treatments methods are more effective than others; the money involved in illegal drug sales; our inconsistent attitude toward alcohol and other intoxicants.
Most of all, we are getting nowhere on addressing the biggest question of all: Why do so many Americans crave escape from their everyday lives? That’s the question that underlies every overdose death, every cartel murder, every crooked doctor rung up for running a pill mill.
These are hard issues, and its sometimes seems that we — all of us, media included — do little besides talking in circles.
Drugs, in this country, have become as intractable and complex an issue as guns. Examining either through a lens of politics, rather than science or social policy or plain good sense, makes it all so much worse. And it leads some people, like the unfortunate former baseball coach, to make fools of themselves.
There are lot of reasons drugs are an appalling scourge affecting everyone from gang-plagued urban neighborhoods to desperate small towns where the good jobs are all gone and, yes, to athletes.
Legendary 49ers quarterback Joe Montana is among the former NFL players who supports using cannabis for pain relief and healing.
Although Montana enjoyed a decorated 16-year career culminating with his Hall of Fame induction in 2000, it wasn’t a pain-free NFL existence. The remedies for his troubles didn’t include cannabis, but the 61-year-old Montana said in an interview with Playboy the time is right to champion the healing powers of cannabis.
Joe Montana appears at Levi’s Stadium during halftime of a San Francisco 49ers football game, Sunday, October 22, 2017, in Santa Clara, California. (Karl Mondon/ Bay Area News Group)
“Legalization is picking up steam on a global level and I feel like now is the time to spread information about the curing capabilities of this plant,” Montana told Playboy. “As with any medicine, increased accessibility comes with the need for education.”
According to one report, retired NFL players use opiods at four times the rate of the general population. While cannabis advocates tout it as a healthier alternative to pills, there’s still plenty of debate on its use in the NFL.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said a few months ago he is opposed to allowing players to use cannabis recreationally, but he remains open to the possibility of medicinal marijuana.
“To date, they haven’t said this is a change we think you should make that’s in the best interests of the health and safety of our players,” Goodell said. “If they do, we’re certainly going to consider that.”
UPDATE: A quote in Playboy’s original article attributed to Joe Montana’s use of cannabis was incorrect, the magazine now reports. This story has been updated to reflect Montana’s correct quote.
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SAN DIEGO — You understand the urge to latch onto the low-hanging fruit pies when talking marijuana with Ricky Williams, the Heisman Trophy winner and former NFL star from San Diego.
Beavis, meet Butt-Head. Video games until thumbs blister. Doritos for days, right?
That’s not Williams, though. Not even close. The man who battered tacklers, first at San Diego’s Patrick Henry High School, then at Texas, then for 10,009 yards in the NFL, is a far more complex guy.
Ricky Williams, #34, carries the ball during an NFL game against the Oakland Raiders at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum in Oakland, Calif., on Sunday, Nov. 28, 2010. (Ray Chavez/Staff)
Much like the bull-dozing running back he became, Williams defiantly refuses to topple to sloppy tackles or flimsy stereotypes. The 40-year-old fought to understand his life’s truest road and place himself smack-dab in the middle of challenging conversations, public perception be damned.
Williams knows the labels. Pothead. Stoner. Slacker. Partier. He’s heard them all.
“I was in a place in my life that from the outside, it looked like I had it all,” Williams said Monday. “The truth is, from the inside, it felt like something was missing.
“Instead of being a pothead or whatever the negative stereotypes, this really opened my mind and sent me on a journey that felt so much more real and genuine than my football journey.”
That’s why there’s lungs-deep pride about a product line Williams launched Tuesday at Outliers Collective, a dispensary in El Cajon. It’s called “R.W.” — Real Wellness, a play on his initials and something Williams describes as a cannabis wellness brand.
Let’s be real, too. There’s money waiting. Likely, a whole bunch of it.
To score big would be a fascinating chapter for Williams, who lost millions in endorsements and possibly contracts because of his relationship with marijuana at a less accepting time.
“It could be huge. It depends. We don’t know this is going to go,” Williams said. “It’s a novel idea. There’s the potential I could make all that money back and more. More importantly to me, I’m doing something that I feel is meaningful and is going to do something to change the world.”
This isn’t about whether Williams is authentic about a higher purpose, so to speak, with a business enterprise.
It’s about him shattering perceptions about what cannabis use is — and what it isn’t. Williams isn’t spacey or unfocused, daft or delusional. He’s thoughtful, engaging and interesting for miles.
He studies Chinese medicine. He artfully cites cutting-edge health philosophies. He navigates the dizzying intersection between chemistry, herbalism and human physiology.
How others felt about him once crushed those powerful shoulders more than almost anyone could know.
“I lost some dignity, for sure,” Williams said. “I don’t necessarily see that as a negative thing. The process has been necessary for me, because a lot of that dignity was based on a God-given ability and not so much what I’m passionate about.
“It was more of a young man’s dignity, I guess.”
Consider, too, that Williams isn’t lazily throwing his name on a product to cash easy paychecks. The business was his idea and, with the help of a few others, his science, as well.
Williams, who lives in Venice Beach, said he’s made weekly trips to the company’s El Cajon lab to tinker with formulas while at the side of the group’s resident “Ph.D. chemist.” To Williams’ thinking, there’s much to explore in the damaging wake of the opioid crisis as many search for pain, sleep and anxiety alternatives.
“It’s representative of a larger problem,” he said. “A lot of people are trying to find a safe way to feel better, whether that’s physical, emotional, spiritual. For me, the real validation comes when people take cannabis seriously as something that helps improve the quality of people’s lives.
“I think that requires more interesting conversations.”
The decision to open up the cannabis corner of his life continues to lead Williams down interesting roads.
A friend who puts on events convinced Williams to host a cannabis-friendly Super Bowl party at a rented home in the Hollywood Hills. If someone paid $200-$300, they could watch the game with a former star.
“It was awesome,” he said. “I don’t watch much football, so I stopped to think about it. If I’m going to do a Super Bowl party, it needs to be more than just watching a football game.
“To me, people can go to a sports book or a party and there’s tons of alcohol around and that creates a certain vibe. So I was curious, what would it be like to have a party where they watch football, but instead of alcohol being the main way to relax, we use cannabis instead?
Former Heisman Trophy winner and NFL running back Ricky Williams famously announced his (temporary) retirement from football after testing positive for marijuana in 2004. (AP Photo/Adam Nadel)
“Over 100 people showed up and I was able to have genuine interactions with pretty much all of them. There was rich conversations. People were connecting. It was a special day.”
Williams maintains a few choice connections to football, though. He works for the Longhorn Network, providing analysis on his alma mater. There’s another pursuit, too.
“When I’m in Austin, I try to play flag football once a week,” Williams said. “But I play defense, mainly. I like middle linebacker or safety.”
Normally, a physical playing style like his would seem an awkward fit for the tamer version of the game. Williams laughed.
“Yeah, I get flagged every game for unnecessary roughness,” he said.
For Williams, that rekindles a thought about the bill-paying football of his youth.
“When people think about Ricky Williams, they think about a pothead,” he said. “That’s not fair to how I played the game. I was a physical player who was respected by my opponents and teammates. That gets lost with the off-the-field stuff.”
Much gets lost when talking about Ricky Williams. That provides a new challenge, far from the days of helmets and shoulder pads. These days, he’s all about tackling more nuanced conversations.
Recently retired NFL player Martellus Bennett has a rough estimate of how many of his former compatriots smoke marijuana. It’s pretty high.
“I want to say about 89 percent,” Bennett told Chris Simms and Adam Lefkoe on their Bleacher Report podcast this week after the hosts asked him if more than 70 percent of NFL players smoke marijuana.
Bennett, who played 10 seasons for five teams, said players are turning to marijuana as a natural alternative to prescription painkillers.
Chicago Bears’ Martellus Bennett (83) celebrates a touchdown against the Oakland Raiders in the first half of a preseason game at O.co Coliseum in Oakland, Calif., on Friday, Aug. 23, 2013.(Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
“There’s medical marijuana,” Bennett said. “So it’s like, there’s times of the year where your body just hurts so bad, that you don’t want to just be popping pills all the time. . . . It ruins your liver. There’s a lot of these anti-inflammatories that you take for so long that like, it starts to eat at your liver or kidneys and things like that. And a human made that. God made weed.”
Marijuana use, especially its use to combat chronic pain as compared with prescription painkillers, has become a contentious subject between the league and its players. In July, the NFL reached out to the players’ union about possibly joining forces to study the use of marijuana to combat chronic pain. The union, according to Peter King, in turn asked the NFL for comprehensive data on how teams are distributing prescription painkillers to players, and things stalemated from there.
Last year, sealed court documents reviewed by The Post from a federal lawsuit filed by 1,800 former NFL players revealed that teams violated federal laws governing prescription drugs, disregarded guidance from the Drug Enforcement Administration on how to store, track, transport and distribute controlled substances, and plied their players with powerful painkillers and anti-inflammatories.
Union chief DeMaurice Smith also has told The Post that the players would like the league to take a “less punitive” approach to recreational marijuana use by players. The drug currently is banned by the NFL, with escalating punishments for each positive test, though marijuana use is treated more leniently than the use of other drugs.
Considering how easy it is for players to get around the league’s recreational drug-testing policy, Bennett might be lowballing his estimate. Players without a positive test on their record are tested only once per year, with league rules mandating it take place between April and August, usually after they report to training camp.
“If a player passes his one test, he won’t be tested again until the next April-August,” Ben Volin of the Boston Globe wrote in April 2015, after it was revealed that former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez was a heavy user of marijuana. “One former medical personnel called it an ‘intelligence test, because it’s once a year, and you know it’s coming.’ One agent quipped that players sometimes will throw ‘smoking parties’ as soon as their testing is complete.”
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Golden State Warriors’ Matt Barnes (22) wears a “We Believe” T-shirt before going into the game against the Utah Jazz in the fourth quarter of Game 1 of their NBA second-round playoff series at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif., on Tuesday, May 2, 2017. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
Matt Barnes, a beloved bad boy member of the Warriors’ “We Believe” team who last year won a championship ring with Golden State, admitted Friday he smoked marijuana before just about every game during his 14-year career.
Appearing with other ex-NBA players in a forum on why marijuana usage should be allowed in the NBA, Barnes told Bleacher Report he was at his best when he was high.
“All of my best games, I was medicated,” said Barnes, who retired after playing a supporting role during the Warriors’ title run last season. “It wasn’t ever single game, but (in 14 years), it was a lot.”
Editor’s note: Video contains profanity.
Two other members of the Warriors’ 2006-07 “We Believe” team have also recently revealed marijuana usage during their careers. Al Harrington, a self-described cannabis entrepreneur, was also on the panel but said he never smoked before a game.
While Stephen Jackson admitted using marijuana during his career, he at first scoffed at the idea any player could smoke before a game.
“Nobody can play high, especially in the NBA,” Jackson told TMZ, before relenting. “Some guys can probably do it, but I wasn’t one of them.”
Retired NBA veteran Kenyon Martin guessed that “85 percent” of players during his career smoked weed. Barnes said it’s not just the players in the league who are firing up regularly.
“The GMs, coaches, presidents … it goes deeper than what you think,” Barnes said. “Some of the people cracking whips and suspending us are smoking weed.”
Running back Mike James hurts all over. He experiences chronic pain every day, a natural byproduct of his chosen profession. Still, he is not yet ready to walk away from his NFL career and says he knows the key to continuing: marijuana.
James, an NFL free agent, applied for a marijuana therapeutic-use exemption (TUE) from the league this offseason, which he hoped would allow him to treat his pain without fear of violating the league’s substance-abuse policy. The league denied his request last week, which James said jeopardizes his ability to sign with a team and continue his career.
“By them denying me a TUE, they’re really giving me no other options to continue playing football,” the 27-year old James said in an interview this week. “To be able to play this violent game and deal with my chronic pain, I need an option for that.”
Even as many states around the country have made efforts to decriminalize or legalize cannabis, both medicinally and recreationally, the NFL has shown few signs of relaxing its rules regarding marijuana. James made his TUE request hoping to change that, in the process offering fellow professional football players a safer alternative to addictive opioids, which many use to manage the pain inherent in the game.
An NFL spokesman did not respond to a request for comment on James. The league doesn’t typically discuss any player’s TUE request, citing privacy concerns.
A sixth-round pick by the Buccaneers in 2013, James was already living on the NFL’s fringe. Even if the league had granted his exemption, there’s no guarantee an NFL team would offer him a contract. Over six seasons, he’s done two stints each with the Bucs and Lions – career total: 23 games – twice ending seasons on the injured reserve list, and has four carries over the past three years.
His first injured-reserve trip came nine games into his rookie year, when James broke his ankle and required surgery. He was given prescription opioids to manage the pain and said the pills quickly became a problem, turning into a yearlong dependence.
“The routine I had was, my wife would give me some pills and I would try to sneak and get extra, get more,” said James, who first detailed his story in a CNN documentary that aired Sunday. “When those ran out, I’d try to search as much as I could to get more – mostly asking around, trying to get it as fast as possible from people that I knew that had it.”
His wife, Aubrey James, spotted the growing problem and said James needed to explore marijuana as an alternative to treat his pain. He initially balked. James wasn’t certain of the medicinal benefits and only knew marijuana as a street drug. His father had a history of drug-related offenses, and James said he always steered clear of marijuana or any other illegal substances.
“I grew up in a bad neighborhood,” said James, a native of Haines City, Florida, who played his college ball at Miami. “I’d seen people using it [and] I thought, ‘Oh, if I use marijuana, that means I was unsuccessful, or I wouldn’t be living the kind of life I wanted.’ My wife kind of chuckled.”
In February 2014, he tried the drug and felt he’d finally discovered a healthy, simple way to manage his pain, if not his NFL career.
Marijuana is a banned substance in the NFL. Players are typically tested for it during organized team activities in the offseason or in training camp before the season. If the player passes that test, he’s essentially free to use the drug, if he chooses, throughout the regular season without fear of getting caught or further testing. NFL players have made light of this practice; longtime defensive lineman Shaun Smith recently joked about buying marijuana the day he passed his annual test.
But rather than continuing to slip through the drug-testing net himself, James wants the NFL to acknowledge the medicinal benefits of marijuana and to promote it to players as an alternative to addictive painkillers. If his TUE application had been approved, he said, he hoped other players would be able to follow his example.
“We know how the NFL feels about marijuana,” he said. “And we know young men’s livelihoods are in the balance. They fear losing this [career] and not being able to take care of their family. What I’m trying to do is open the door, open pathways to give guys a plan.”
His doctor agrees. Sue Sisley, an Arizona-based physician, has been a major proponent of marijuana research and was eager for a football player to step forward and challenge the NFL’s rules and norms.
“When Mike came forward, I realized he was really the perfect candidate. You don’t want to have the first TUE to come from somebody who’s suboptimal because of their history,” she said. “But Mike was incredibly ideal because he’s so hard working, has this really compelling background and he’s not a candidate for opioids.”
Given his family history and James’ own experience with opioids, Sisley said “it would be malpractice for me” to encourage him to use painkillers to treat his pain.
The NFL cited multiple reasons for denying his TUE request, James said, noting that marijuana is a banned substance in the NFL, that the league’s medical advisers don’t necessarily agree with James’ doctor that it’s essential for him and that chronic pain is not a sufficient diagnosis.
“They’re arguing that chronic pain is a symptom, but chronic pain syndrome is a diagnosis,” said Sisley, who serves on the board of advisers for the Korey Stringer Institute, which has partnered with the NFL on health and safety issues. “This guy has pain everywhere. In an NFL career, these guys have been playing since they were little and have been injured over and over again. They have pain in every joint. . . . For the NFL is to say chronic pain syndrome is not a diagnosis is absurd.”
James has been receiving guidance from Doctors for Cannabis Regulation, a nonprofit advocacy organization that has been actively urging the NFL to revisit its views and revise its policies on marijuana. The group’s NFL steering committee includes former players Ricky Williams, Eugene Monroe and current Titans’ linebacker Derrick Morgan. Brian Muraresku, the organization’s executive director, said the group was in touch with the NFL Players Association before filing the TUE and that it’s “fair to say we’ve been in close coordination” with James’ union.
A spokesman for the NFLPA did not return a request for comment. The players’ union formed a committee to study pain management and research marijuana in 2017 but has yet to make public any formal recommendations.
The league’s front office remains resistant to any changes on its drug policy. Before last season, Commissioner Roger Goodell told ESPN, “Listen, you’re ingesting smoke, so that’s not usually a very positive thing that people would say. It does have addictive nature. There are a lot of compounds in marijuana that may not be healthy for the players long term. All of those things have to be considered.”
Goodell said then that the league’s advisers were studying the issue, and “to date, they haven’t said, ‘This is a change we think you should make that is in the best interest of the health and safety of our players.'”
James is not giving up hope. He suffered a concussion during the preseason with the Lions last year and was placed on the season-ending injured reserve. He’s still hoping a new team gives him a chance. James lives in Florida and said he obtains marijuana from a dispensary with a doctor’s recommendation. He uses a combination of both tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD), extracts that some research suggests could be beneficial in pain management.
James said he couldn’t discuss any appeals or recourse that might be available with his TUE formally denied. Muraresku, however, said, “we’re in talks with the league to try to resolve this.” And Sisley still thinks a TUE for marijuana makes the most sense for her patient.
“As his physician, I definitely would not recommend he continue playing if he’s not allowed to maintain his cannabis intake,” she said. “He has a very high risk of relapsing onto opioids, and we all know the end-results of opioid dependence is overdose and death.”
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NEW YORK (AP) — The BIG3 says players in the 3-on-3 league of former NBA players are allowed to use cannabidiol, or CBD, for pain management and recovery.
Under the change announced Wednesday, the BIG3 becomes what’s believed to be the first professional sports league in the United States to allow use of the marijuana ingredient for pain management and recovery.
Qyntel Woods #6 of 3 Headed Monsters dunks against the Ghost Ballers during week one of the BIG3 three-on-three basketball league at Toyota Center on June 22, 2018 in Houston, Texas. (Ronald Martinez/BIG3/Getty Images)
The BIG3 says its decision follows the removal of CBD from the World Anti-Doping Agency’s list of banned substances earlier this year.
The league says in a statement: “Despite many states around the country making efforts to decriminalize or legalize cannabis, both medicinally and recreationally, professional athletes who could benefit medicinally are prevented from doing so by league outdated mandates.”
The second season of the league co-founded by entertainer Ice Cube began last week in Houston. It has a stop Friday in Chicago. The league features players like Amare Stoudemire, Baron Davis, Kenyon Martin and Nate Robinson.
