In honor of 4/20 this weekend, Bleacher Report ran a feature story called B/R x 4/20 in which they interviewed 12 retired athletes over a two-month span about their experiences with marijuana during their careers.
One former NFL player that was interviewed happened to be defensive lineman Shaun Smith, who played nine seasons in the league with the Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns, Kansas City Chiefs, and Tennessee Titans.
When players were asked if they ever played in games while high, Smith did not hesitate to give a very blunt answer to the question and admitted he sparked up before every game.
“Yeah, I had a little ritual: Smoke two blunts before every game,” Smith said. “When I smoke, I can focus and actually do the job that I have to do and the tasks. It’s like I’m in the zone. I feel like nobody can stop me when I was out there. It mellowed me out, got me going and it’s the best thing for me.”
According to the Bleacher Report article written by Master Tesfatsion, NFL players will be randomly drug-tested for marijuana and other drugs banned on the league's substances-of-abuse policy between April 20 and Aug. 9. If a player passes, he won't be tested again until the following season.
Smith also added that he would smoke marijuana on the way to the game and get into his own zone.
“I'd fire it up on the way to the stadium, go through the bad neighborhoods of whatever team I was playing with to the city and reflect,” Smith said. “That was my motivation. I'm blessed to be in this position to get up and go do what I love.”
In 102 career games, Smith recorded 244 tackles, racked up 4.0 sacks, had four pass deflections, and forced two fumbles. The defensive lineman is also known for scoring a rushing touchdown on offense as a member of the Chiefs during a game against the Seattle Seahawks in the 2010-11 regular season.
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