BEFORE he suited up to play against the New York Giants in 2012, Jacksonville Jaguars offensive lineman Eben Britton took an ice bath followed by a hot shower. He did his routine stretches. Then he smoked a joint.

Marijuana use has been a dicey subject for Olympic athletes in the past.

We in the American marijuana community lit up with sly smiles when Michael Phelps was selected to carry our United States flag at the opening ceremonies of the Rio Olympics.

There has been emerging evidence that cannabis reduces pain, muscle spasms, stiffness, and inflammation in humans.

Are athletes who tout marijuana’s performance-enhancing effects onto something – or just on something?

The league has faced growing criticism for its anti-cannabis stance, especially considering its cozy relationship with alcohol brands and the prevalence of opioid use among players.

For years, cannabis use has been the worst kept secret in athletics.

Meet Wanda James and Scott Durrah, the Colorado cannabis power couple who predict it won’t be long before the NFL embraces marijuana as a brain medicine and as an alternative to dangerous and addictive painkillers.

If the Cowboys owner gets his way, we could see fewer player suspensions.

Apart from the reality that it’s the right thing to do, it’s the smart thing to do for the business of the NFL.

Former Super Bowl champion and Chicago Bears quarterback Jim McMahon says an unfairly demonized drug helped him recover from the pain of his football career: medical marijuana.

Faced with traumatic brain injury, depression, chronic pain, and addictive medication, former NFL players are coming together in support of medical marijuana.

When NFL lineman Eugene Monroe spoke out publicly against the NFL’s ban on marijuana, it sparked a national conversation about the merits of cannabis as an alternative method of pain management for players.

Franco Harris is joining to movement for medical marijuana. While the Steelers legend is in good physical and mental health after a lengthy football career, he openly approves marijuana use for the days he doesn't feel so great and has become a strong advocate for current players to use the plant for medicine.

Ricky Williams doesn't shy away from his support for marijuana. He used the drug as a means of recovery from the pounding he took over his 10-year NFL career, which included two seasons (2002 and 2003) leading the league in rush attempts with a combined 775 carries.

FORT WORTH - Former Chicago Bears quarterback Jim McMahon smoked marijuana long before the drug was legalized. “[Former Bears coach] Mike Ditka would say, ‘Oh, all you guys, you pot smokers,’ That’s what he’d call us. ‘You pot smokers.’ ” McMahon said Sunday.

Former Chicago Bulls guard and three-time Duke All-American Jay Williams says it’s about time the NBA gets more progressive when it comes to marijuana.

Kyle Turley believes marijuana counters the effects of CTE and he wants the NFL to allow players to use it.

HOUSTON (NEXSTAR MEDIA) — Marijuana is currently on the list of substances banned by the NFL but several former players are hoping to change that.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell faces increasing demands to embrace cannabis as a solution to two crises that threaten to derail the $13 billion-a-year league: painkiller abuse and concussions.

Football players take an alarming array of pain medication to get back on the field but some believe medical cannabis is a safer and more effective alternative.

DENVER - Hemp is helping. Former Denver Broncos quarterback Jake Plummer says he is taking CBD, also known as cannabidoil, and it is easing the daily pain he suffered from a decade playing in the NFL.

Cannabis is beloved among some of the greatest athletes on the globe. The most decorated gold medalist to ever walk the earth, Michael Phelps, has partaken in the past.

The NFL continues an authoritarian stance on marijuana use while team doctors still dole out powerful and addictive painkillers.

(CNN) The NFL and the NFL Players Association have a staunch policy prohibiting marijuana use, but some players are asking them to reconsider it, saying pot can be used for pain relief, and possibly as concussion prevention.

Reports of NFL players trying to get the same effects of marijuana without actually smoking it has observers wondering if the league should relax on their drug policy a bit.

How the retired QB is trying to save the NFL with medical marijuana.

In Major League Baseball, the family-friendly American sport, no one smokes weed. Allegedly. Wink. Nudge.

BOULDER, Colo. - Is the NFL all wrong with regard to its ban on marijuana? A growing number of former and active players, as well as leading researchers at Johns Hopkins, are testing whether a compound found in hemp is a possible miracle cure for concussions and brain injuries.

Few industries have been able to change their narratives as drastically as legal marijuana, and it has done so with the help of two sympathetic groups: Football players with a traumatic brain disease and sick children.

Marketing cannabis through celebrity and pro athlete endorsements is a relatively new and unstudied concept.

Thanks to winter-sports entrepreneur Jim McAlpine, weed jocks now have their own national series of events, the 420 Games.

On Friday, Kerr became the latest high-profile sports figure to advocate for the use of marijuana as a way to deal with chronic pain.

PHILADELPHIA -- The conversation about marijuana's place in the NFL is heating up.

Two of the NFL’s top medical personnel discussed the usage of marijuana as a medicinal compound with researchers partially funded by Baltimore Ravens offensive lineman Eugene Monroe, according to the Washington Post.

Former NY Giants defensive lineman Leonard Marshall has partnered with a New Jersey pharmacy to market medical marijuana.

Many NFL players are finding that marijuana offers a safer alternative to pain management than anti-inflammatory medication and are beginning to push for the NFL and the NFL Players Association to reconsider the substance abuse rules that the two sides negotiated.

Changes in the country's attitude toward marijuana use may be taking effect in football.

Leaders of the NFL Players Association are preparing a proposal that would amend the sport’s drug policies to take a “less punitive” approach to dealing with recreational marijuana use by players, according to the union’s executive director, DeMaurice Smith.

As society continues to wrestle with the acceptability, or not, of marijuana, the NFL and NFL Players Association try to strike a proper balance regarding the permissibility of the substance.

Retired NFL players use opioids at four times the rate of the general population, according to one study, and marijuana advocates say there’s a safer, healthier alternative available.

The only NFL player to openly advocate for medical marijuana has donated $80,000 to fund cannabis research on football players at the University of Pennsylvania and Johns Hopkins University.

The idea that Ross Rebagliati’s gold medal -- the first Olympic medal to be awarded in the history of snowboarding -- should end up on display at a cannabis dispensary owned by Rebagliati himself, is astonishing, ironic, and entirely fitting.

"I had back surgery, and the year I was off, I was smoking marijuana during that period of time," New York Knicks president said.

With the countdown underway for Super Bowl 50, there’s a renewed focus on the NFL’s high rate of injuries and concussions, and whether the league should be open to players using medical marijuana to treat their pain.

The future Hall of Famer admits to smoking marijuana during his playing career.

Former NFL star Ricky Williams is featured in an upcoming SI Films production in which he discusses his experience with marijuana use and his support for legalization.

Stoned marathon runners may seem like walking contradictions, but there are hints the drug and long-distance running could go hand-in-hand.

Prior to the start of the 2016-17 season, Rutgers instituted a new drug testing policy that calls for varying punitive and rehabilitative measures for athletes who test positive for performance-enhancing drugs but has reduced penalties for marijuana use.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) -- At least one-third of the Power Five conference schools are not punishing athletes as harshly as they were 10 years ago for testing positive for marijuana and other so-called recreational drugs, according to an investigation by The Associated Press.