Medical marijuana is legal in over half the country, but for most professional athletes, draconian league rules supersede even the most lenient state regulations. So while Denver Nuggets players can walk less than 10 minutes from the stadium they play at to a state-sponsored dispensary, they can easily face “surprise” drug testing and suspension if the budtender reports the transaction to the media. In the face of increasing cannabis research and more lenient public opinion, though, two of the country’s most popular leagues are finally opening up to the prospect of medical marijuana as a league-approved painkiller.
Just weeks after NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell spoke favorably about partnering with the league’s Players Association to study medical marijuana as a painkiller to replace widely used opiates, NBA head honcho Adam Silver has changed his dismissive tone to a more welcoming, science-first look at medical pot.
At a basketball camp held in Israel as part of the league’s “Basketball Without Borders” initiative, Silver was asked by Redditor EdHamden about the NFL’s impending research and whether the NBA would move to similarly investigate…