Former NHL enforcer admits regularly consuming marijuana for years

Canada is set to legalize recreational use of marijuana in 2018, which means the NHL and its players association will have to address this issue rather soon. Some believe the players may be allowed to use it therapeutically in the near future, which would be a huge relief for many of them.

Former Philadelphia Flyers enforcer Riley Cote admitted he consumed cannabis for years during his NHL career, because he had to deal with an enormous amount of mental and physical stress throughout the years. He decided to turn to marijuana to help him feel better. 

He is adamant: he wasn't the only one in this situation. Here's what he told Sportsnet's Dan Robson:

"I’d quietly use it as an ally of mine. It helped me manage anxiety [and] pain,” he says. “There was no physical addiction. It just made me feel better... 

Good people break bad laws, I guess,” he says. “At least half of those guys [I competed with and against] consumed, and a fraction of those guys consumed regularly. Like, every day... And that number is probably higher.”

According to him, the NHL is turning a blind-eye to players consuming marijuana because it is more and more common:

"According to Cote, a player who tests positive for a hard “street drug” such as ecstasy or cocaine will likely have to enter the league substance-abuse program for about a month. But a player who tests positive for THC, the primary intoxicant obtained from cannabis, will only receive a call. Either way, the test results aren’t revealed publicly, whereas a positive result for performance-enhancing drugs would be."

He also mentioned that "Nobody I’ve heard of has tested positive strictly for THC and been thrown in the substance-abuse program,” says Cote. (Otherwise, Cote adds, he’d have spent a fair share of his NHL days in the program.)"

Cote, who is now 35 years old, was never drafted. He played 156 NHL games with the Flyers, in which he scored 7 points and recorded 411 penalty minutes. After his NHL career, he became an assistant coach in the AHL with the Adirondack Phantoms, who then because the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, from 2010 to 2017.

Do you think the NHL should officially allow players to use cannabis therapeutically?