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8 sports stars who are pro-marijuana: UFC’s Conor McGregor, Nick and Date Diaz have cannabis businesses, while NFL legends Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Randy Moss admitted to smoking too

These athletes advocate the use of marijuana, whether it’s for medicinal or recreational use. Photo: @thenotoriousmma, @mrapinoe, @kareemabduljabbar, @randygmoss/Instagram

The world is changing – fast. Once a taboo, marijuana is growing in popularity and legality for athletes. Even the notoriously strict NBA and NFL leagues have loosened their policies on disciplining players for marijuana use in recent years. Meanwhile star athletes like Conor McGregor and Calvin Johnson have been open about their use of the drug.

Cannabis use among athletes has sparked debate on health issues and social values

In recent years, the NFL has reduced the punishment for players who test positive for cannabis, and the NBA has stopped testing for the drug altogether.

Some experts believe cannabis, in the form of CBD, could help relieve pain and promote muscle recovery. CBD is a non-psychoactive component of cannabis that has been exempted from the doping ban since 2019.

Most the locker rooms, if they’re not currently taking part, they have smoked or used cannabis in some application. If we’re hanging, that was our preferred vice
Calvin Johnson, NFL player

Most the locker rooms, if they’re not currently taking part, they have smoked or used cannabis in some application. If we’re hanging, that was our preferred vice

There is no real research to confirm the benefits of CBD in physical recovery. However, many researchers believe that given the number of endocannabinoids in the body – particularly in the skin – it makes sense that CBD, which binds to endocannabinoids, could be a helpful agent in muscle recovery.

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Here’s a list of athletes who have publicly stated that they use cannabis or have invested their own money in companies that produce and sell the drug for recreational or medicinal use.

1. UFC fighter Conor McGregor smoked a blunt on Instagram

Whiskey isn’t the only substance UFC fighter Conor McGregor endorses. Photo: @thenotoriousmma/Instagram
Conor McGregor posted an Instagram story of him smoking a blunt – marijuana wrapped in tobacco leaf, usually from a cigar – in August, after his loss to Dustin Poirier at UFC 264.
 

The 33-year-old UFC champion also has his own line of cannabis-based recovery products called TIDL Sport. His line of products includes CBD oils and creams.

2. NFL Hall of Famer Calvin Johnson smokes cannabis after most games, and now owns his own marijuana business

Cannabis believer Calvin Johnson. Photo: @megatron/Instagram

Calvin Johnson launched his own cannabis brand called Primitiv in 2021, which sells the drug in its plant form, THC-infused edibles and concentrated THC wax, for recreational use in the state of Michigan. Johnson’s business venture was inspired by his frequent marijuana use during his nine-year NFL career.

The 36-year-old Hall of Famer said that he started smoking marijuana during his college career at Georgia Tech, and then smoked after “every” home game he played in the NFL.

NFL Hall of Famer Calvin Johnson tends to his cannabis plants at Primitiv’s growing centre. Photo: Primitiv

Johnson said his teammates and players from other teams would often join his postgame smoking sessions, and claimed that most NFL players have used cannabis in some capacity.

“Most the locker rooms, if they’re not currently taking part, they have smoked or used cannabis in some application,” Johnson said. “If we’re hanging, that was our preferred vice. I’m not a big drinker at all, but if we were hanging and it was a couple of fellas, that would be our first choice.”

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3. UFC fighters Nate Diaz and Nick Diaz co-own their own cannabis brand

FC fighters Nate and Nick Diaz pose after a training session. Photo: Instagram

Two of the UFC’s biggest stars, Nick Diaz and his brother, Nate Diaz, have made marijuana part of their legacy in recent years.

The two brothers started their own cannabis brand called Kill_4209, in 2021, but it is not available for purchase yet. The brothers also founded their own brand of CBD products called Game Up Nutrition, in 2017, which mostly includes CBD products that are available for purchase nationwide.

Cannabis entrepreneurs Nick and Nate Diaz. Photo: @diazbrothers209/Instagram

But before the two brothers got involved with the business ventures, Nick Diaz received a five-year suspension from the UFC in 2015 for testing positive for marijuana, which was the third marijuana-related offence of his career.

After the UFC changed its policy to not punish fighters for using the drug on non-fight days, Nate Diaz celebrated by smoking marijuana at the UFC 263 press conference in June. It was later reported by ESPN that he was smoking his own brand, Kill_4209.

4. NBA Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar said he used to only associate with people who smoked cannabis

Kareem Abdul Jabbar is a renowned smoker. Photo: @kareemabduljabbar_33/Instagram

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has scored more points than any other player in NBA history. He also said, in his 1983 autobiography Giant Steps, that he’s smoked more than his fair share of marijuana.

“I’ve certainly smoked more than my quota of weed. For a while there at UCLA I didn’t want to hang out with anyone who didn’t smoke reefer, but that was as parochial a view of the world as any uptight antidoper’s, and I got over it quickly,” the 74-year-old NBA Hall of Famer wrote.

“I’ve certainly smoked more than my quota of weed,” said Kareem Abdul Jabbar. Photo: @kareemabduljabbar_33/Instagram

When Abdul-Jabbar was arrested for marijuana possession at a Toronto airport in 2002, he told authorities he used it to cope with migraines and nausea, according to The New York Times. Now, 20 years later, cannabis is legal for medical and recreational use across Canada.

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5. NFL Hall of Famer Randy Moss was one of the first NFL players to open up about using marijuana while he was still playing

Randy Moss paved the way, in his own way. Photo: @randymoss/Instagram

Randy Moss was one of the first big NFL stars to publicly admit, while in the prime of his career, that he used marijuana.

During a 2005 episode of HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, the now-44-year-old NFL Hall of Famer said he had used marijuana since entering the NFL in 1998.

Randy Moss. Photo: @randymossagram/Instagram

Moss has since criticised the NFL for its policy that tests and punishes players for marijuana use, and has said the league should end the policy in an interview with Sports Illustrated in 2016 and during an appearance on ESPN’s First Take in 2019.

6. Megan Rapinoe is an ambassador for her twin’s CBD brand

Megan Rapinoe, the only prominent female athlete to be involved in the cannabis industry. Photo: @mrapinoe/Instagram

Stars in the WNBA, Women’s MMA and US Women’s Soccer have been less vocal about cannabis use compared to their male counterparts.

The only prominent female athlete to be involved in the cannabis industry is US women’s soccer star Megan Rapinoe, who, along with her wife and fellow player Sue Bird, is an ambassador for her twin sister’s CBD brand, Mendi.

 

Launched in August 2021, it does not include any psychoactive products. Mendi sells CBD gels and oils for recovery, which are available for purchase nationwide.

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7. Sha’Carri Richardson is one of the few female athletes publicly admitting to using the drug

Sha’Carri Richardson was set to represent the US at the 2020 Olympics. Photo: Getty Images/AFP

Richardson only did so in response to her banishment from the Tokyo Olympics. She had no prior public involvement with the cannabis industry.

On average, female athletes make roughly 80 per cent less in base earnings than male athletes, with fewer endorsement and sponsorship opportunities, according to Forbes. This discrepancy could leave female athletes with less freedom to publicly endorse something as divisive as marijuana use, and could put their reputations and livelihoods at a greater risk than it would for stars in the NBA and NFL.

Read the original article on Insider.
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  • McGregor touts his CBD-based recovery product TIDL Sport, while the Diaz brothers launched their own cannabis brand Kill_4209 – which Nate smoked at a UFC 263 press conference
  • Female athletes are less vocal, but US runner Sha’Carri Richardson spoke up after a 2020 Tokyo Olympics ban and footballer Megan Rapinoe endorses her twin sister’s CBD brand Mendi