World Cup winner Megan Rapinoe has criticised sports bosses while speaking out about the benefits of CBD.

The Team USA star – who is a strategic partner at Mendi, a CBD firm run by her twin sister Rachael – has come out in favour of cannabidiol as a safe and effective alternative to opioids for pain management.

She also railed against sports chiefs who refuse to sanction CBD, citing the pay equity lawsuit the US Women’s National Team are pursuing against US Soccer.

She told the Boston Globe: “I think it’s been widely known and proven that the management doesn’t always have the best interest of the individual athlete at their hands.

Skater Tony Hawk is a CBD spokesman

“I think that you’ve seen that with us in our pay equity, we feel like we’ve been discriminated against and not treated fairly or equitably, (and) you can see that with the NFL players, they’ve had an opioid crisis for a long time, concussion results of those CTE tests were hidden from the players for a long time, opioid abuse is rampant in the NFL.”

The sports world has embraced CBD, with NFL stars like Rob Gronkowski and Carson Palmer, and skater Tony Hawk, announcing partnerships with CBD firms.

Rapinoe added: “I believe the power in the athlete in this particular field is incredibly strong because what we’re asking for is a better, safer alternative to pain management.

“Still, to this day, I think if I wanted to find somebody to give me an opioid prescription or a sleeping pill prescription or some other prescription drugs, I think that that would in many ways be easier and technically legal to give.

“Which, I think we’re seeing right now, has been horribly damaging to our country and to athletes as well.”