A soccer player, a football player, and a boxer walk into a CBD dispensary.
It sounds like the beginning of a joke, but this is real life for an increasing number of American athletes promoting CBD use and calling for fewer restrictions.
When CBD usage is still scrutinized and mistakenly compared to spliffs and bong hits, athletes play a prominent role in promoting CBD as a healthy alternative to traditional medicine.
Athletes are revered for their physiques and health. They can kick further, run faster, and hit harder than the average Joe or Jane, so athletes serve as inspirations for many Americans when it comes to health and fitness. By being outspoken advocates for the CBD industry, they’re showing how mental well-being plays a prominent role in a physically fit lifestyle and draws positive attention to a still too often misinterpreted subject.
In 2019, anyone not already familiar with Megan Rapinoe quickly learned her name. Rapinoe led the US Women’s National Soccer Team to an enthralling FIFA Women’s World Cup victory. Her outspoken and enthusiastic nature shone, and she soon earned the admiration of many across the country.
Rapinoe is a proponent of CBD as a treatment for the ache and pains associated with 90 minutes of pitch play and a way of managing her well-being. Essentially, the better she is for herself, the better player she is for her teammates. And with the assistance of her sister Rachael’s CBD company Mendi, she’s at the top of her game. From inflammation to mood to pain relief, Megan Rapinoe’s vocal support and dedicated use have helped turn her sister’s business into a powerhouse of female-owned, athlete-focused CBD businesses.
In March of 2019, then three-time Super Bowl champ Rob Gronkowski retired from professional football. Injuries had affected him physically and mentally, so he felt removing himself from the game after nine seasons with the New England Patriots was the best way forward.
Gronk took a year-long break and began trying CBD as a means of managing his pain and elevating his moods. He loudly and proudly credits Abacus Health’s CBDMEDIC products with getting him mentally and physically fit enough to get back on the field. Gronk was traded to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2020 and earned his fourth Super Bowl win. He’s gone on to partner with Abacus to highlight the importance of a natural alternative to pain relief.
The Baddest Man of the Planet, Iron Mike Tyson, has also seen the benefits of CBD incorporated into his daily routine. His belief in the products he was using saw him create the Tyson Ranch brand of CBD products under his Tyson Holistic Holdings company.
Tyson has often voiced his support for the benefits of CBD products. After a 20+ year career of hard hits, the relief that Tyson found in marijuana soon led to his fascination with its legal cousin, the ever-growing CBD industry. Tyson saw a market for products that would aid the body and the mind and find a balance between the two, and his promotion of the CBD industry was a TKO.
As more and more athletes voice their experiences with CBD products as the best way to keep them in their prospective games naturally, the tides may soon be turning on how CBD use is viewed by an audience who’s already watching.
