Like several other retired NFL players, former quarterback Jake Plummer supports the use of medical marijuana to treat the pain that often follows a long career in football. Plummer walked away from football at age 31 and claims to use CBD (cannabidiol) every day.
Now 41, Plummer recently talked with BSN Denver about the NFL’s drug problem, saying that the league should be more open to cannabis as a safer, less addictive alternative to prescription painkillers that are used to combat the violent side effects of football.
Many recent studies have indicated that one of those side effects is CTE, a progressive degenerative disease of the brain that is typically suffered from repeated blows to the head. The NFL’s reluctance to acknowledge a link between football and CTE has been a hot-button issue lately; it even was at the center of a major Hollywood film.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is one of the major voices in football still refusing to admit that CTE may be a major long-term health issue for players. Back in March, Jones made some questionable comments denying that it could even be possible. Those remarks did not sit well with Plummer, who absolutely ripped Jones in his discussion with BSN.
“Like Jerry Jones, who says it’s ‘absurd’ that there would be a link between brain trauma, football and CTE,” Plummer adds. “Shame on him for saying that, that billionaire a–hole. It’s the worst thing in the world for a guy like that to say. That’s where we’re sitting; grown-ass men are asked to go out there for millions of dollars — which, yeah, it’s a lot of money — bang themselves around and completely f–k their lives over for their 40s and 50s. So yeah, poor football players is what I say. If you’re a grown-ass man, you should be allowed to make grown-ass decisions.”
Tell us how you really feel, Jake.
(Via The Big Lead)
