Southern California is hosting the 2016 SoCal Medical Cannabis Cup, put on by High Times. Despite what some might say, the event is more than just a smoke fest and offers real, educational information about cannabis and how it affects our lives.
This year there was a panel on the opening day called “How Cannabis Will Save the NFL”, hosted by a cohort of former NFL players. On the panel was former NFL running back Ricky Williams, who had a lot to say about cannabis’ direct impact on his NFL career.
“I played a position where I got beat up a lot. I led the NFL in carries, and somehow was able to recover through the week and come back out there and take another pounding. I was putting my body under so much stress. For me, I got to a point in my career where I realized I’m not going to be able to do this a lot longer,” says Williams.
Williams also claims the teams he played for didn’t seem to care much about his wellbeing as a player, teammate, or human. In fact, Williams says that more often than not he had to take care of himself.
Team doctors would wiggle his knee around, give him some anti inflammatories and pain pills, and tell him to rest. That was it. Williams thought there was a better way to rehab his battered body, which is why he turned to cannabis. Watch his statement in the video below:
Cannabis and the NFL has been a major topic of conversation recently, especially with Will Smith’s movie Concussion hitting theaters over the holiday. The movie detailed the life of Dr. Bennett Omalu, the man credited with discovering Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE).
CTE is a neurodegenerative disease that’s associated with concussive events, which is obviously applicable to the world of football. The United States Government owns a patent, #6,630,507, entitled “Cannabinoids as Antioxidants and Neuroprotectants.” Medical Marijuana Inc. portfolio company Kannalife™ Sciences has two exclusive licenses to leverage this patent in their research, one of them specifically for CTE.
In theory, cannabinoids like cannabidiol (CBD) could be used to for neurodegenerative disorders like CTE since it has the ability to break the blood-brain barrier. Former NFL defense end Marvin Washington has been adamant in spreading the word about CBD and it’s therapeutic benefit, appearing on Cannabis Frontier, FOX News, and ESPN’s Outside the Lines.
Washington even established a campaign to raise awareness about CTE and research possible treatment options. If this is something you feel strongly about, don’t hesitate to get involved and #ShowYourGreen, donate to the campaign, and spread the word across your networks. Together we might be able to provide a safe playing field for our athletes, support for our military veterans, and provide treatment options for those suffering from traumatic brain injury.
