{"id":37310,"date":"2019-08-05T05:00:21","date_gmt":"2019-08-05T13:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2019\/08\/05\/roll-models-meet-the-skaters-who-use-cannabis-to-curb-pain\/"},"modified":"2019-08-06T00:36:22","modified_gmt":"2019-08-06T08:36:22","slug":"roll-models-meet-the-skaters-who-use-cannabis-to-curb-pain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2019\/08\/05\/roll-models-meet-the-skaters-who-use-cannabis-to-curb-pain\/","title":{"rendered":"Roll Models: Meet the Skaters Who Use Cannabis to Curb Pain"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Next summer, competitive skateboarding will make
\nits Olympic debut in Tokyo. As a result, a sport that originated among
\nself-described \u201cdirtbag\u201d street kids will gain a new echelon of mainstream
\napproval, along with a massive global audience.<\/p>\n

But it comes at a price.<\/p>\n

Skateboarding\u2019s biggest stars are now under the scrutiny of The World Anti-Doping Agency<\/a>, an international organization that \u201charmonizes anti-doping policies, rules, and regulations\u2026 around the world.\u201d In January 2019, the agency announced that 19-year-old phenom Cory Juneau<\/a> had failed a drug test for THC<\/a> while competing at the Oi Park Jam in Itaja\u00ed, Brazil the year before. Initially they hit Juneau with a six-month suspension, but after completion of an anti-doping educational course, the suspension was reduced to just three months, and applied retroactively. So Juneau didn\u2019t miss any competitions. But the incident did make headlines around the world, and it served as a warning shot for any pro skateboarder who considers cannabis an integral part of their health, wellness, training and recovery regiment. <\/p>\n

Because as far as the Olympics are concerned, you
\ncan get as drunk as you want, pop as many pills as your physician will
\nprescribe and smoke two packs of cigarettes a day \u2014 just don\u2019t consume any
\ncannabis, even if it\u2019s legal where you live. If you do, you\u2019re out on your ass.\n<\/p>\n

Ironically, the Olympics didn\u2019t even list cannabis among banned substances until Canadian Ross Rebagliati<\/a> embarrassed them into it as winner of the first ever gold medal for snowboarding at the 1998 winter games. Not long after hearing his nation\u2019s anthem play triumphantly, Rebagliati was stripped of his medal when a drug test came up positive for THC, only to regain it shortly thereafter when the World Anti-Doping Agency had to admit that cannabis was not actually on their list of banned substances.<\/p>\n

\n
\"\"
Jeff Hedges was a pro skater in the \u201880s. He sometimes takes hits mid-skate session to dull the pain of old aches.\u00a0 <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

His Olympic laurels restored, Rebagliati became an
\ninstant celebrity all over again. And 20-plus years later, he\u2019s now the head of
\nRoss\u2019 Gold, a medical cannabis business in Canada, where the \u201cdrug\u201d that got
\nhim banned has just been legalized nationwide.<\/p>\n

So all\u2019s well that ends well for him. But what
\nabout today\u2019s generation of skateboarders and snowboarders?<\/p>\n

They\u2019re being forced to choose between getting high
\nand competing at the highest levels, and Australian skateboarding legend Tas Pappas
\n\u2014 who became number one in the world at the 1996 World Championships \u2014 thinks
\nsome top pros might opt out of the Olympics before they pee in a cup.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m wondering how it\u2019s going to work as far
\nas the drug testing is concerned,\u201d he told ABC News. \u201cBecause some guys skate
\nreally well on weed and if they have to stop smoking for one competition [the
\nOlympics], it might really affect their performance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Getting cut off from cannabis will also negatively impact pro skateboarders\u2019 ability to deal with the aches and pains (and worse injuries) that come with the territory without resorting to prescription painkillers and other opioid-based drugs<\/a>. According to a recent study<\/a>, retired NFL players pop painkillers at four times the rate of the general population. Competitive skateboarders face many of the same types of painful injuries, but while the NFL punishes pot smoking athletes more harshly than violent criminals, the skateboarding community \u2014 until now \u2014 has largely embraced weed as a way of life. <\/p>\n

So to find out if cannabis can play a positive role
\nin preventing opioid abuse and reducing its harms, I spent a smoky afternoon
\nhanging out with some legendary old-school skaters who still shred massive vert
\nramps some 40-plus years after they first took up the sport.<\/p>\n

Ramping Up Production<\/strong><\/h4>\n

In an industrial rail yard not far from San
\nFrancisco, heavy metal and punk rock deep cuts from the 1980s are leaking out
\nof a nondescript warehouse, an old-school soundtrack punctuated by shrieks of
\njoy and, occasionally, a skidding thud.<\/p>\n

I walk inside and encounter a thick cloud of
\ncannabis smoke. When my eyes adjust, I\u2019m standing at the base of a 11.5-foot
\ntall, 32-foot wide skateboard ramp, with 10-foot transitions and 1.5 feet of
\nvertical drop at the top of the ramp. It\u2019s Saturday afternoon, so no work
\ntoday, but in a strictly business sense, this is a processing facility for Dyna-Gro
\n\u2014 a 35-year-old company that \u201cprovides growers with complete, easy to use,
\ncost-effective, liquid nutrient concentrates.\u201d<\/p>\n

Co-owner Greg Neal tells me that his father and
\nfellow co-owner David Neal founded the company, along with a friend who was a
\nchemist, in order to help fellow cannabis cultivators get the most out of their
\ncrops. They started out creating their own nutrients in small batches back in
\nthe 1970s, and over the decades to follow, outgrew several previous locations
\nbefore moving Dyna-Gro into this warehouse in 2008.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had so much extra room here that I could
\nfulfill a dream,\u201d Neal says. \u201cVans Skatepark in [nearby] Milpitas had just shut
\ndown, and there was nowhere else to go. So we built this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neal has been skating since he was 10 years old and \u201ctick-tocking around the block on a plastic board with horrible wheels.\u201d When he first got introduced to skating ramps at a legendary spot called The HP Ramp in San Francisco, it sparked a lifelong passion. So he and his father did what any sensible business owners would do in such a situation \u2014 they built a massive skate ramp in the center of their workspace.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Cannabis and skateboarding have gone hand and hand for decades. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Neal\u2019s now 48. He\u2019s not skating today, but only
\nbecause he\u2019s still healing up from his latest injury, a rotator cuff tear that
\ndoctors say will keep him off his board for up to a year. But Neal vows he\u2019ll
\nbe back in half that time, because he\u2019s got a secret weapon: weed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI once suffered through three meniscus tears in my
\nknee without any painkillers at all,\u201d he says. \u201cHerb is all I need to heal.
\nEspecially after I do physical therapy. When that pain flares up, some cannabis
\nsimmers everything down.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chronic pain<\/a> and serious injuries are a way of life for dedicated skaters, particularly those who\u2019ve been on their boards \u2014 trying to pull off gnarly tricks \u2014 for 30 years or longer. Neal has invited a few such friends over today to shred the ramp and talk with me about cannabis and pain management. Their collective tally of broken bones alone would make anyone think twice about the wisdom of their skate-or-die philosophy. And beyond the shock and agony of the injuries, there\u2019s the emotional pain and isolation that comes with a long stretch of recovery and rehabilitation. One second you\u2019re flying down the bank of an emptied out concrete swimming pool, free as a bird, the next you\u2019re laid up in the hospital, being told you won\u2019t get to ride again for the foreseeable future.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve seen friends in the skate community get a nasty injury, and then
\nthey keep taking the painkillers even after their body has healed,\u201d Neal says. \u201cFrom
\nthere they can move on to crushing up pills or worse. With cannabis, you just don\u2019t
\nsee that. You still have your freedom, it doesn\u2019t take your soul.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ease Your Way Back In<\/h4>\n

The skate session starts with two modest-sized doobies passed around
\namong four or five guys in their forties and fifties. Pat Black is 53 and has
\nbeen skating since he turned five. A carpenter by trade, he\u2019s supported himself
\nby building ramps for contests, though he never liked to compete himself. <\/p>\n

\u201cSmoking weed has always kept me out of trouble,\u201d he says. \u201cI was on my own very young, and there were harder drugs all around me, but I just didn\u2019t ever want that for myself. Along the way, I\u2019ve broken my neck, my back, my arms, my legs, quite a few things. I\u2019ve been prescribed a lot of different pain pills, and basically they\u2019re all a bunch of crap. They work at taking the pain away for a little while, but after that they just made me depressed. I see opioids hitting the skateboard community left and right. I had a friend overdose last night, though luckily he lived through it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\"\"
Ray Fennessey skates on a ramp in a California warehouse that doubles as a facility for a cannabis nutrient company. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Black passes the joint to Lance Williams, who heartily agrees with this analysis. Williams grew up in Marin County (the original home of 420<\/a>), and has been a part of the cannabis industry since 1994, including working for the Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana<\/a>, one of California\u2019s original cannabis collectives. He\u2019s currently applying to become a legal grower and credits weed with helping him survive a string of serious injuries sustained on skateboards, mountain bikes and motorcycles.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnybody who participates in an extreme sport is going to get hurt
\neventually. I\u2019m about to turn 47, and I\u2019ve had nine major surgeries. So if I
\nlived someplace where cannabis is still illegal, I\u2019d be pretty susceptible to
\nopioids and all the problems that come with them. And if you\u2019re taking opioids,
\nyou really can\u2019t skateboard \u2014 at least not at a high level. Because you\u2019re
\nimpaired. Also, you might not realize that you\u2019re hurting yourself all over
\nagain because the pain has been killed. But if you\u2019re smoking weed you can just
\nkind of ease your way back into skating. That\u2019s really important. Cannabis
\ndoesn\u2019t work for everyone or for everything, but it does work for a lot of
\npeople and a lot of different conditions.\u201d <\/p>\n

Return to the Vert<\/h4>\n

\u201cWhen you stop doing the thing you love, you start
\ndying,\u201d Jeff Hedges tells me as he passes the joint my way and heads back to
\nthe action.<\/p>\n

I suppose he could have been referring to either
\nskating or smoking weed, but I think he meant the combo. Either way, he\u2019s still
\nout here giving his all to two things you\u2019re supposed to \u201coutgrow\u201d as a
\nteenager.<\/p>\n

Hedges was a pro skater back in the 1980s, when
\nvert was king, and while he never became a household name or raked in huge
\nendorsement deals, he remains a legend. When his particular discipline went out
\nof style in favor of street skating, he slid out of the sport, raised a family,
\nand figured his vert days were behind him. But more recently, he\u2019s been back at
\nit, fueled by a desire to feel the wind in his hair again, and a retro trend in
\nthe skate world that has old-time vert heads like him back in style.<\/p>\n

Today, he\u2019s trying to nail a hand plant while
\nsmoking a jay, so we can take a picture.<\/p>\n

\u201cGoing down the ramp with a joint in my mouth, man, even if you\u2019re trying not to inhale too much, you\u2019re still inhaling quite a bit,\u201d he later says with a laugh. \u201cIt was fun but challenging.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\"\"
Pat Black applies a cannabis topical after a day of skateboarding. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Which is the way he likes it.<\/p>\n

The first thing you notice hanging out with skaters on a ramp this big
\nis how often and how hard they fall. Yes, proper equipment and technique
\ncushions the blow, but still, all of these guys are nursing injuries as old as
\ntheir teen years and as recent as about five minutes ago. On one clean run, Hedges
\nswoops down the ramp trailing a tendril of smoke, sticks the hand plant, takes
\na mighty puff while the camera clicks away, and then gracefully glides back
\ndown the ramp. On the next, he takes a bone-rattling spill while still holding
\nthe joint in his mouth.<\/p>\n

Once it\u2019s clear he\u2019s not (badly) hurt, everyone cheers. <\/p>\n

\u201cGenerally, I try not to smoke at all on a day that I\u2019m going to skate,\u201d
\nhe says. \u201cI wait until I warm up a bit on the ramp, and my body starts
\ncomplaining, and then I take a couple of hits \u2014 not trying to get really
\nstoned, just enough to soften the edges on that pain in my knees and back so I
\ncan keep skating. You obviously need to stop when you\u2019re too hurt, but if
\nyou\u2019re just old and sore, some pot will keep you out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

And beyond just dealing with injuries, cannabis also helps keep him in
\nthe flow.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re sitting on the couch and you get stoned, you can end up
\ngetting really sunk into that couch. Well, that\u2019s the same with getting sunk
\ninto skating. You stop thinking about it and planning it, and that\u2019s when new
\nideas come out of nowhere. You find out what you\u2019re going to do as it\u2019s
\nhappening. That\u2019s when skating gets really good.\u201d<\/p>\n

TELL US<\/strong>, have you ever used cannabis for pain management? <\/p>\n

Originally published in Issue 37 of Cannabis Now. <\/em>LEARN MORE<\/em><\/a> <\/em><\/p>\n

The post Roll Models: Meet the Skaters Who Use Cannabis to Curb Pain<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n


\n
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Next summer, competitive skateboarding will make its Olympic debut in Tokyo. As a result, a sport that originated among self-described \u201cdirtbag\u201d street kids will gain a new echelon of mainstream approval, along with a massive global audience. But it comes at a price. Skateboarding\u2019s biggest stars are now under theContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":37311,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[50,638,11687,99,85,10190,1851,1443,5634,2062,11688,11689],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37310"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37310"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37310\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37312,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37310\/revisions\/37312"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}