Detroit Lions star Calvin Johnson recently sat down with Sports Illustrated to talk about his career, but he also spoke of the NFL’s problems with concussions and drug abuse.
Johnson, who retired from the NFL in 2015 after nine seasons, and appeared in six Pro Bowls, told SI’s Michael Rosenberg that he saw a lot of things in his few short years in the big league. But the constant threat of injury is one thing he won’t miss in retirement.
The 33-year-old retiree told the magazine that he suffered no less than nine concussions during his career. And one way he dealt with the physical toll was to smoke pot “after every game.”
Johnson talked about how he suffered “many” concussions, and even got used to it. But he also says that his past claims about his injuries may have been a bit over the top.
“I misused the terms nerve damage and concussion,” he admitted, but then added, “I knew I was concussed because I blacked out. I wasn’t seeing straight. And they wanted me to change my story.”
Still, he insisted that he usually just played through the concussions because that’s just what is done in the league.
But one way he worked through the pain was to self-medicate. Still, Johnson says that pot is nothing compared to the opioids that many other players used.
“When I got to the league, [there] was opioid abuse,” Johnson told the magazine. “You really could go in the training room and get what you wanted. I can get Vicodin, I can get Oxy[contin]. It was too available. I used Percocet and stuff like that. And I did not like the way that made me feel. I had my preferred choice of medicine. Cannabis.”
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.