Retirement for hockey enforcers is no easy task. Most fighters who made a career fighting out on the ice were likely doing so since their junior days, which can amount up to 20 years or so of taking punches to the head.

It's well-documented how taxing the life of an enforcer can be. Some turn to alcohol and drugs to combat the headaches and pain suffered from throwing fists for all those years.

Former Red Wings enforcer Darren McCarty was no exception.

Following his 16-year career in professional hockey, McCarty became an alcoholic. Through two marriages and four stints of rehab, McCarty thought about ending it all.

On Remembrance Day in 2015, McCarty's blood pressure reached a new level and his liver was ready to shut down. He decided it was time to put down the Jack Daniels bottles and beer cans for good and stopped drinking altogether.

“For me, growing up, you were either a jock or stoner, so I never smoked pot growing up, but I've been drinking since I was 12 or 13 years old," explained McCarty to the Detroit Free Press' Kathleen Gray.

"That was acceptable in the hockey circles, it's just culturally what was accepted. "So I would always say no to pot, until after my first surgery in 1999. I was on all these pills, and it was driving me crazy. And I'm an insomniac, so I can't sleep, and that had a lot to do with all the drinking."

McCarty was diagnosed with skin cancer in 1999 but continued to drink. Finally, in 2015, McCarty's friends got to try a marijuana concentrate in the form of Rick Simpson Oil. After waking up from a coma, McCarty's physical addiction was gone.

"I dropped to my knees and said, 'Thank God.' '”

McCarty hasn't touched booze since, stopped smoking cigarettes, got off most of his meds and was able to shed 60 pounds.

“If you've seen my progress over the past 10 years, you've seen me go through different stages from the alcoholism, which led me to this plant saving my life. I feel like I’m 35. I’m not lying. I feel like Benjamin Button.

“Yeah, I’m a stoner, but I’m a sophisticated stoner."

McCarty has now launched his own marijuana company called Pincanna, which you can read more about in Gray's article below.

Former Red Wing Darren McCarty joins marijuana company, says pot saved his life https://t.co/20jkH1kKBi — Detroit Free Press (@freep) August 26, 2019

The now 46-year-old replaced Joey Kpcur on the Red Wings' 'Grind Line' along with Kris Draper and Kirk Maltby. He racked up over 1400 career PIMs and was a key contributor in the Red Wings' three-Stanley Cups (1997, 1998 and 2002).

Kris Draper +

Kirk Maltby +

Darren McCarty

= Grind Line. 👊🏼#WallpaperWednesday pic.twitter.com/U1al1dZ5Da — Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) August 21, 2019

In 758 career regular-season games, the Burnaby, B.C. product notched 288 points (127 goals, 161 assists) and added 49 points (23 goals, 26 assists) in 174 career playoff games.



(h/t Detroit Free Press)