Cannabis use in professional sports remains a controversial issue despite developments in the space as well as a new understanding about how it may be preferable to the alternative of popping pills. Besides, there is a sheer dominance of cannabis use by athletes whether or not it is permitted by rules. A recent, important win for the industry came by way of an announcement by the BIG3 basketball league, which declared in June that it would allow signed athletes to use cannabidiol (CBD) -- a chemical in cannabis commonly used to manage pain and inflammation.
The BIG3 could soon be joined by larger, more established professional sports leagues. Last year, the NFL and NFL Players' Association agreed to work together to study the use of marijuana for pain management. Little-to-nothing has been revealed concerning the study or how the league and union plan to address this issue, but what is clear is that players continue to use cannabis despite the rules prohibiting it.
More recently, the NHL Players’ Association’s executive director Don Fehr announced that it is "possible that the NHL and NHLPA could come to an informal understanding about marijuana usage among players in the League in the future."
The positions that professional sports unions and leagues have taken as of late is promising for those who have invested significant resources in the cannabis industry. What is particularly interesting is the number of professional athletes who have directly involved themselves in the business.
In June, I covered former NFL player Justin Staples becoming the Director of Business Development for Illinois-based Revolution Enterprises, which is involved in the growing, manufacturing and dispensing of cannabis. More recently, I discovered that another former athlete, AJ Agrawal, helped create a company along with David Nikzad and Daniel Sloan called Orthogonal Collective, a new branch of Orthogonal, which is described as a socially conscious holding company for cannabis businesses.
Agrawal, a former collegiate track runner, says that Orthogonal Collective was developed to mirror Y Combinator's highly curated accelerator formula and incorporates the business model of the multinational conglomerate holding company Berkshire Hathaway. It aims to provide a new approach to investing that administers extensive resources and strategic capital to cannabis companies that have the potential to make positive impacts on the world.
"I think a lot of people underestimate how not only cannabis, but plant medicine in general, is going to change society, not just sports," says Agrawal. "There are certain industries where you find a battle between old beliefs and progressive decision making. Before we knew the health benefits of plant-based medicine, much of society’s initial reaction was to treat it like a drug worse than alcohol. Fast forward to today, and the evangelist group for marijuana adoption is growing. More money is being put into the industry, and research continues to improve."
The advocacy for the approved use of cannabis among current professional athletes is largely taken on by former athletes like Staples, Agrawal, and even NFL Hall of Famer Andre Reed, who has become a spokesperson for a subsidiary of a publicly traded cannabis company that is helping to spread awareness of CBD for athletes. However, there is a lack of vocal activism by current professional athletes, likely because it would paint a target on them and likely lead to their suspensions should it be found that they are using substances that are currently not allowed.
Agrawal hopes that he is part of a movement to cause change and claims that, in the meantime, his holding company will invest in over thirty cannabis companies in its first year as well as develop its own plant medicine laboratories in the near future. Through his company Verma Media, Agrawal has vigorously invested in the blockchain, cannabis, and sports industries, and says he has seen great returns because of it. Now he claims he is focusing his efforts on what he calls conscious capitalism.
"Conscious capitalism is predicated upon the belief that businesses should service all principal stakeholders including shareholders, the community, and the environment," says Agrawal. "Orthogonal believes that the consumer demand for a socially responsible world is the natural progression and companies who embody these values will see tremendous success in the near future."
His goal is to expand the community to involve current and former professional athletes, but in the meantime, he will do what his fellow ex-athlete colleagues are doing and work on building up and generating resources for when the sports ecosystem truly opens up to the cannabis industry.
