Baseball great Darryl Strawberry doesn’t think marijuana should be permitted in sports to manage pain.
Some athletes and even sports leagues are seeking marijuana and related substances to deal with pain, seeing it as an alternative to the harm opioids have caused.
But Strawberry, whose career and life went off track due to his drug addiction, doesn’t agree.
Strawberry even puts the blame on his usage of marijuana at a young age for the struggles with substance abuse that eventually toppled his career.
He was suspended three times from pro baseball for using cocaine.
Strawberry is now a Christian minister and credits God with getting him free from addiction. He spends his time speaking to others about the dangers of addiction, and giving sermons.
Even after he was drafted by the New York Mets in 1980, straight out of high school, the drug use didn’t end.
“At that time, I just drank more and smoked more than when I was in high school,” he told Yankees Magazine. “People don’t realize that drinking and smoking marijuana are going to lead to other drugs, but they do. Eventually, marijuana and alcohol are going to stop working, and you need to get to a different place.”
Success Did Not Equal Happiness
“I pretended I was happy because I was successful playing baseball, but I was never a real man. I was never a real husband, and I was really never a real good father. I just wanted to do what I wanted. So it was great to accomplish all of those things as a baseball player, but that didn’t make me a man.”An article in Forbes sees certain sports leagues loosening their stances on marijuana usage by players, though it notes that the NFL and NBA retain strict anti-marijuana policies.
Some NFL players would like to see the NFL give athletes the option to use marijuana to deal with pain, as TMZ explores, but Strawberry sees pain management as beyond the purview of these substances, warning that there are disasters ahead for people seeking to manage pain in this way.
“There’s no such thing as pain management for prescription drugs. They’ve gotten totally out of control,” Strawberry said. ”Anything that alters your mind will change your mind forever.”