Former Detroit Lions star receiver Calvin Johnson has kept a somewhat low profile since retiring. Johnson is indisputably one of the most talented receivers in NFL history, and most fans of the game were disappointed when he chose to walk away at the age of 30.
He's now resurfacing a bit to join the chorus of athletes touting the benefits of marijuana and CBD. Speaking at a recent cannabis conference Johnson touted the benefits, per Kathleen Gray of the Detroit Free Press.
“When I was on the dancing show, I was using a CBD (the non-psychoactive ingredient of the cannabis plant) topical that my buddy gave me because my ankles were swelling up so much that I didn’t think I would be able to finish the show.”
“The relief happened almost overnight. I was already open-minded to marijuana, but after that, I became a true believer just because of the experience,” Johnson continued.
Johnson also talked about how it can be dangerous for players to be given so many prescription drugs to deal with their pain.
“When I was finished playing, the prescriptions from the docs stopped. It’s a slippery slope when you come out of the league and you’ve got all the Oxy and Vicodins or whatever you have to manage the pain. There has to be a substitution and cannabis ended up being that for me, and helped my wife.”
Johnson's wife was suffering from Crohn's disease.
There's been some growing momentum within the NFL to allow the use of marijuana. It's been reported that the league is willing to offer to stop testing for marijuana in the next round of CBA negotiations, so it sounds like some of Johnson's former teammates might have an easier time pretty soon.
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