Jim McMahon Advocates Pot over Pills for Pain Management

The NFL’s resistance to permitting marijuana as a pain tolerance tool for active players continues to be a hot topic. Multitudes of retired players have continued to come to the defense of the natural plant. The latest to make his voice heard is former Chicago Bears quarterback Jim McMahon, who has substituted a career of success and hedonism for a post-retirement life characterised by constant medical testing and fear of the unknown.

“There’s so many uses to this plant,” McMahon said at the Cannabis World Congress and Business Expo in Manhattan. “Hundreds of people are dying from [painkillers] and there’s not one case of people dying from the hemp plant.”

McMahon’s condition was highlighted for many through his appearance on ESPN’s 30 for 30, The ’85 Bears. Diagnosed with early onset dementia and struggling daily with headaches, memory loss and depression, McMahon seemed very regretful for taking the risks he did as a player, even though it meant bringing the historic franchise its only Lombardi trophy to date.

But McMahon was lucky in that his condition was detected early and therefore treatable with modern medicine. Some of his fellow teammates were not so fortunate, and many others continue to live in fear that they may wake up one day and forget their past life.

Once a brash youngster bucking the trend of clean-cut quarterbacks, McMahon’s rowdy personality ensured the Bears offense got its fair share of airtime against an All-World defense that constantly hogged the headlines.

These days, McMahon is rarely seen in public without his trademark wraparound sunglasses; a fitting metaphor for his more reserved nature in middle age. But he has not lost his penchant for speaking out. This time, it isn’t for himself, but for the livelihood of the NFL’s current crop of players at risk of the same pitfalls post retirement.