Super Bowl champion quarterback and current Arizona resident Jim McMahon stars in a legalization campaign video scheduled to run during Thursday night’s NFL game between the Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bears, McMahon’s former team. In the ad, McMahon reveals how he ended his daily use of opioid painkillers after gaining access to medical cannabis.
The ad begins with the former star quarterback describing his first major injury, which occurred during his second season.
“That’s when I started using painkillers, and I was using them daily, pretty much the rest of my career,” he says. “It takes its toll. I was taking too many of those things.”
He then discusses how he “got rid of those” and has “been using marijuana ever since” he retired, moved to Arizona, and enrolled in the state’s medical marijuana program.
“Marijuana should be available to all adults who need it.”
Jim McMahon, Former Chicago Bears QB
“Someone like me can afford to become a medical marijuana patient, but others aren’t so lucky,” he points out. “Marijuana should be available to all adults who need it. I’m voting ‘yes’ on Prop. 205 and hope you will, too.”
Most patients who qualify for Arizona’s medical marijuana program must pay $150 to receive a medical registry identification card, which must be renewed annually at a cost of $150. Most patients also need to pay for appointments with their doctors or with specialists to obtain a medical card.
Arizona’s medical marijuana law also does not cover patients suffering from several medical conditions that are covered by other states’ medical marijuana laws, including Parkinson’s disease, lupus, muscular dystrophy, and traumatic brain injury.
For more polls, data, and stories on the campaign in Arizona and eight other states considering legalization measures, visit our Legalization 2016 home page.
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Gage Peake is a former staff writer for Leafly, where he specialized in data journalism, sports, and breaking news coverage. He's a graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's College of Journalism and Mass Communications.
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