Hal stumbled across this article and I felt like it needed to talk about it. Throughout the years we’ve seen more and more NHL players use alcohol and strong pain relievers to help aid their physical and mental pain. There have been plenty of instances in which hockey players have lost their careers because of alcohol and hard drugs and even worse, lost their lives. No one knows the toll these players take except for the players themselves. Enter the resident weed guy, Riley Cote. Some key points and quotes from this article are listed below.

“I’d quietly use it as an ally of mine. It helped me manage anxiety [and] pain,” he says. “There was no physical addiction. It just made me feel better.”

“Good people break bad laws, I guess,” he says. “At least half of those guys [I competed with and against] consumed, and a fraction of those guys consumed regularly. Like, every day…. And that number is probably higher.”

In the NHL, Cote knew other enforcers who would lay awake the night before games, dripping in sweat, worrying about their next fight. Many, he added, would turn to alcohol as a coping tool. But Cote says his cannabis use helped temper those anxieties. “We’re not selling the silver-bullet, magical cure for all,” he says. “[Cannabis] is a tool and it needs to be treated with respect…. It’s all about increasing quality of life. It’s about helping these guys wake up the next morning, where they can feel functional enough, good enough, [that] they can enjoy their family and not worry about the pain and anxiety — that vicious cycle that generally leads to mental health issues.”

I am 100% on board with Cote on this one. Listen guys, its 2017 and the world is WAY different than it was 10 years ago, let alone 20. What’s so wrong about a player dabbling with a little devils lettuce to help them mellow out? If you’re sore, why can’t a player take a quick rip out of an apple to help relieve the pain they go through during an 82 game grind? Cote was a rough and tough customer and I’m sure he saw some shit during his time in the National League. To be honest, he would be a great person to ask what can be done to help players cope and deal with the grind. If a guy who used his face as a punching bag and body as a battering ram says that the pots and pans make life easier to live then I say happy 420 blaze it up.

What do you guys think?

PS. This isn’t Cotes first rodeo with the Marijuana. Back in 2013 Cote went to battle for your right to grow hemp. Riley Cote: Big Weed Guy.