There has been a shift (an enlightened shift) on the use of marijuana for professional sports players in recent years as more and more research shows that the use of marijuana in a medical sense is far less harmful and more natural than prescription pain killers for athletes who are dealing with chronic pain (no pun intended).
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has been shown to be open-minded on legalizing marijuana use for players, as evidenced in his recent statement.
Full quote pic.twitter.com/D2ctkxJBZU
— ouriel daskal (@odaskal) August 14, 2017
Interestingly enough former NBA Commissioner David Stern is in support of the use of medical marijuana for players as well.
Count Timberwolves star big man Karl Anthony-Towns as an avid supporter of legalizing marijuana in a medical fashion to help players deal with pain and injuries, as he told ESPN’s Nick Friedell:
“I agree with David Stern with marijuana. You don’t have to actually make it “Mary J” (or) “Half Baked.” You don’t have to do it like that, but you could use the [chemical] properties in it to make a lot of people better. That’s something that Adam Silver has to do, that’s out of my control, but maybe legalizing marijuana. Not fully legal where people are chimneys but using it as a beneficial factor as an athlete, as a person living daily. I think a lot of times fans forget that sometimes there may be some things that are banned that may not be the greatest for playing basketball, but for everyday living off the court, sometimes those things that are legal could help us.”
It may take a while for this to be legalized league wide as laws are different and always changing in the states where NBA teams are located.
There is and has been a societal shift toward the legalization of medical marijuana and you can expect the NBA to be leading the change on the professional sports league front, as it does with most other advancements.
