Former NFL players discussed the benefits of the medical use of cannabis for athletes at the Southwest Cannabis Conference and Expo in Phoenix.

The six-member panel included former athletes Marvin Washington, Mark Restelli, Jom McMahon and Grant Mattos, alongside cannabis therapeutics specialist Uma Dhanabalan and former Colorado student-athlete Treyous Jarrells.

Former athlete Washington said the use of cannabis could help address concussions and chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a progressive degenerative disease of the brain that has been found in numerous former NFL players, as well as opiates addiction to address pain.

“Put people first, it’s all about the patients,” Washington said. “They’re not trying to get high, they’re trying to feel better.”

Restelli, a former Miami Dolphin, became a medical cannabis advocate six years ago, when an injured left knee meant the end of his career. He is now working in collaboration with CannTrade and Harvest One, two California-based cannabis companies. He said he “fell in love with the process of growing and the medical side of how cannabis treated the mind and body.”

“We are highly motivated world-class athletes that use cannabis on a daily basis to treat issues that we have from playing,” Restelli said.

On a similar note, former athlete Jarrells had to end his college athletic career due to a knee injury and said he has always preferred cannabis as an alternative treatment over opiates and pain killers.

According to cannabis therapeutics specialist Dhanabalan, it is important to “embrace and empower” the healthy, happy and healing cannabinoid and advocate to end the stigma around cannabis. Dhanabalan added cannabis is not an gateway drug, but an exit drug from pharmaceuticals, narcotics and alcohol.