Former NBA player (and Big3 League champion) Al Harrington recently linked up with Uninterrupted to produce a 14-minute documentary which takes a look at his cannabis extract company. In the doc, Harrington also has a conversation with former NBA commissioner David Stern to discuss marijuana reform for medical purposes within the league.
During "The Concept of Cannabis," Al Harrington opens up about how he really began using CBD, a cannabis extract that is used to treat inflammation, while playing for the Denver Nuggets.
Harrington says (H/T DenverStiffs.com),
"How I started using cannabis, is when I played for the Denver Nuggets I had a botched knee surgery that I ended up getting a staph injection. Ended up having to get four more surgeries just to clean the infection out. You know, I was on all kinds of pain meds. This lady that runs this university, she seen all of the medicine that I had on the thing and she said ‘Al, have you ever tried CBD?’ And I was just like, ‘nah I never really tried’ and she gave me a couple of things to try and I immediately felt the difference."
Harrington, 37, became a cannabis entrepreneur after his 16-year NBA career. He estimates that as many as 70% of athletes in major sport smoke weed, and hopes his documentary will help shed some light on the medical advantages of marijuana in sports.
Additionally, he thinks coaches and owners are consumers as well.
"I think it's that big," Harrington said. "Not only the players, but I think coaches consume, I think the owners consume. I think in sports it's very prevalent and it's right there."
When discussing the subject of removing weed from the NBA's ban substance list, the former commish David Stern told Harrington that he supports the move.
"I'm now at the point where, personally, I think [weed] probably should be removed from the ban list," Stern told Harrington.
"I think we have to change the Collective Bargaining Agreement and let you do what is legal in your state," Stern added.
"If marijuana is now in the process of being legalized, I think you should be allowed to do what's legal in your state."
Stern was commissioner of the NBA from 1984-2014, "during the roughest time for the NBA for drugs," and said his strict policies were appropriate at the time. He told Harrington, "Some of our players came to us and said [players] were high coming into the game, so we began tightening it up."
You can check out the full documentary, "The Concept of Cannabis," below.
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