NBA star coach Steve Kerr of the Golden State Warriors has admitted that marijuana was his go to substance for chronic pain that he was experiencing, thus temporarily alleviating the issue and further advocating the decriminalization of the naturally grown plant.
Marijuana has been a hot button topic of discussion in recent years that has pitted many in the country against each other. But the use of marijuana, or cannabis, has been winning the legal fight in many states including California, Washington, Colorado, Illinois, New York, and several others that have decriminalized it and scheduled it as a safe alternative for either medicinal use or recreational use.
Steve Kerr is sick and tired of seeing athletes suspended for using marijuana as a pain killer. pic.twitter.com/A2mWAwqiC0
— theScore (@theScore) December 3, 2016
During a podcast on CSN with The Warriors Insider on Friday, Steve Kerr was quite candid with how he used marijuana , which most in the country will say that it was a legitimate reason, if for nothing else, as a medicinal option for his back pain.
“I guess maybe I can even get in some trouble for this, but I’ve actually tried it twice during the last year and a half, when I’ve been going through this chronic pain that I’ve been dealing with,” Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr told the CSN podcast.
Steve Kerr’s condition was not unlike many other Americans that suffer from chronic pain in one way or another, that seek relief through marijuana use and the soothing properties of cannabis.
For the Golden State Warriors coach, it was the summer of 2015 and he was just off a major championship-winning season that he had to get some work done on his back. That summer, Steve Kerr underwent two back surgeries, the second of which was to relieve the pain he was experiencing from the first surgery, which led to his marijuana use.
It was only after those surgeries that Steve Kerr realized that his back pain was so debilitating that he had to take a leave of absence from his championship team the first half of the 2015-2016 record breaking season to get some sort of help or relief from his back pain. That relief came with marijuana.
That is where marijuana came in to assist him. The use of cannabis allowed Steve Kerr to experience pain relief after having gone through so much following his back surgeries.
“I’m not a pot (marijuana) person; it doesn’t agree with me. I’ve tried it a few times, and it did not agree with me at all,” Steve Kerr said on the podcast.
“So I’m not the expert on this stuff. But I do know this: If you’re an NFL player, in particular, and you’ve got a lot of pain, I don’t think there is any question that pot (cannabis) is better for your body than Vicodin. And yet athletes everywhere are prescribed Vicodin like it’s Vitamin C, like it’s no big deal.”
In regards to Vicodin, Steve Kerr is absolutely right. The manufactured drug does indeed relieve pain, but it comes with major side effects that are both long-term and short-term. Marijuana, on the other hand, does not.
“I know enough, especially over the last couple years, having gone through my own bout with chronic pain, I know enough about this stuff – Vicodin is not good for you,” Steve Kerr said on the podcast.
“It’s way worse for you than pot, especially if you’re looking for a painkiller and you’re talking about medicinal marijuana, the different strains what they’re able to do with it as a pain reliever. I think it’s only a matter of time before the NBA and NFL and Major League Baseball realize that.”
Steve Kerr says he used marijuana to treat his chronic back pain last season https://t.co/7sP68oHURN pic.twitter.com/RfR92YQM3B
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) December 3, 2016
Although it is unclear at this time if any of the professional sports leagues have decided to look into marijuana as a possible alternative, the states have been taking up the cannabis issue in their own agendas.
Right now, New York is about to list chronic pain as an approved use of marijuana across the state. Cannabis is already legal to use in treating other conditions such as cancer, HIV, AIDS, Parkinson’s, and a few others. Chronic pain is just now about to make the list of approved uses for medical marijuana treatments.
[Featured Image by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images]