Longtime NFL defensive lineman Chris Long, who won Super Bowls with both the New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles in 2017 and 2018, revealed some pretty shocking information following his retirement from the league, admitting that he used cannabis throughout his career even though it was banned.
Chris Long told Fox News that he used cannabis to help him sleep as he struggled with insomnia and didn’t want to turn to sleeping pills, which had negative side effects.
“What made me turn to cannabis is actually sleep. So, for me, it was insomnia, sleeping pills — all types of bad side effects — and it really just had a negative overall effect on my mental health and just on my sleep,” Long told Fox News. “And the best day of my life was when I stopped using marijuana for recreation. I was like, ‘Oh, I can get real use out of this, this plant. This is a very functional thing for me and making that switch was such a game-changer. I also like to use cannabis for a whole host of reasons. But for me, what got me on was sleep.”
But to use cannabis as a player, Long had to learn how to beat the NFL’s tests, which he said was not that difficult.
“You know when they are,” Long said of the drug tests. “The couple of weeks that I needed to be off, honestly, the time I would spend off cannabis before my test, I was the worst version of myself because I wasn’t restful. I was anxious. All the stresses of a pro football season, which was usually coming up, because it was usually in camp where we got tested. Those things were bubbling to the surface. And certainly to relax after a hard day of workouts and that sort of thing, I missed that. And so, as soon as I got tested, it was a lot better. Then you can start, and then you kinda knew when to stop.”
Even though cannabis has been legalized both recreationally and medicinally in many states across the United States, NFL players are still not permitted to use it.
[Fox News]
