Ex-Detroit Lions Star Calvin Johnson Admits to Smoking Marijuana After Every Game

Former Detroit Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson recently admitted to smoking marijuana after every game when he was in the NFL. The Georgia Tech alum recently talked to Sports Illustrated about his career and he said he would smoke once every game was over from 2007 to 2015. Johnson said the reason he would do that is to help relieve some of the pain he was dealing with as well as he was concerned with the opioid abuse he noticed with players.

“When I got to the league, [there] was opioid abuse,” Johnson said via CBS Sports. “You really could go in the training room and get what you wanted. I can get Vicodin, I can get Oxy[contin]. It was too available. I used Percocet and stuff like that. And I did not like the way that made me feel. I had my preferred choice of medicine. Cannabis.”

Johnson suffered multiple injuries during his career which included ankle injuries and nine known concussions. However, he only missed nine games in his nine-year career. When it comes to the concussions, Johnson was never put on the injury report and he talked about a time where he said he suffered a concussion in 2012 but the Lions came out and said he was wrong. Johnson later agreed but the only reason he did that because the team made him do it.

“I knew I was concussed because I blacked out. I wasn’t seeing straight,” Johnson told Sports Illustrated. “And they wanted me to change my story.”

Although he suffered multiple concussions, Johnson explained that he would just play through them, because that’s what he was used to doing.

“Bam, hit the ground real hard. I’m seeing stars; I can’t see straight,” Johnson said. “But I know in a couple minutes I’m gonna be fine. Because I’ve done that plenty of times before.”

Johnson retired from the NFL at 30 years old. Along with the injuries and the fact the Lions weren’t winning consistently, Johnson decided to end his career early. And even though it wasn’t a very long career, Johnson was one of the best receivers in the league. He would record at least 1,000 receiving yards from 2010-2015 and his lowest receiving total was during his rookie year where he posted 756 yards. Johnson was named to the Pro Bowl six times and he was named to the All-Pro First Team three times.