Sky Sports
The movement for the broader legalization of cannabis is taking on the appearance of an unstoppable juggernaut.
It is one in which plenty of high-profile fighters are prepared to get behind the wheel. Mike Tyson is, of course, marijuana’s most famous celebrity backer, a man who loves weed so much he opened his own cannabis ranch and claimed to smoke $40,000 worth of his own produce each month. Other big name backers of green include MMA stars Nick Diaz and Joe Warren. But the latest star to show his hand will raise more than a few eyebrows.
It is fair to say that the UK is several steps behind the UK when it comes to decriminalization and social acceptance of marijuana. But that hasn’t stopped former unified super middleweight champion Carl “The Cobra” Froch from voicing his support for legalization live on his Froch on Fighting podcast.
Health benefits
Froch surprised his listeners by digressing into his very personal experiences with cannabis following a brief discussion about Mike Tyson in which he remarked on how nice it was to see that Iron Mike was “doing well business-wise, growing weed somewhere in America.” He went on to talk about legalization of cannabis in the USA and the fact that California legalized it some years ago. Froch offered the opinion that this was the right call, due to “so many health benefits.”
Of course, recreational use is only one part of the cannabis story. Strains like salvia divinorum, or holy sage, also have medical applications, and people buy them as seeds, extracts and dried leaves for a range of purposes. In Froch’s case, it was his father in law who had benefited from cannabis during the final months of his terminal illness, when it was core to his holistic palliative care plan.
The former fighter went on to say that he had researched the benefits of cannabis at length, and listed cancer, motor neurone disease, MS, dementia and anxiety among the conditions that it can help to combat. He also discussed its anti-inflammatory properties, which are clearly of particular relevance to boxers.
Froch suggested that big pharma businesses are actively seeking to misinform the public and direct attention away from cannabis as it “grows freely in mother Earth and cannot be patented.”
Unconventional opinions
Carl Froch is no stranger to courting controversy in his podcasts, or to surprising his many listeners, who never know what subject is going to rear its head. In a previous show, he shared his flat Earth beliefs, which caused some incredulity. This time, however, his comments clearly had a knowledgeable basis. Froch remarked “I’ve done a lot of research and cannabis, for me, is a massive plus and it’s got so many health benefits.”
He remained silent on the question of whether he had personal experience of the drug, but one thing we know with certainty is that Froch never missed or failed a drug test in his entire career.