Super Bowl Champion Jim McMahon Uses Medical Marijuana

Former Chicago Bears quarterback, Jim McMahon, has kicked pain pills out of his life. The combination of medical marijuana and chiropractic treatment to relieve pressure in his neck have improved his quality of life.

McMahon used to take up to 100 pain pills per month. Now, he uses medical marijuana three times a day to treat his arthritic pain from injuries sustained during his NFL career, reports the Chicago Tribune.

McMahon is a patient in Arizona’s medical marijuana program. When asked about treating his pain with pain pills, he said, “They were doing more harm than good. This medical marijuana has been a godsend. It relieves me of the pain — or thinking about it, anyway.”

One of the main reasons that the former NFL player is going public about his medical marijuana use status is because of his struggles with Illinois’s medical marijuana program, which does not currently have chronic pain as a qualifying condition. Illinois lawmakers believe chronic pain to be too broad of a category that could lead to abuse.

McMahon’s advocacy for medical marijuana is purely from his own personal experience. The relief he’s found for his arthritis from marijuana far surpasses what the hundreds of Percocet painkillers ever provided.

(photo c/o: Jose M. Osorio/Chicago Tribune)