At GRB we love to hear about how and when people use hemp products to enhance their lifestyles. Lots of people we talk to use CBD to help them relax, sleep, or deal with anxiety and pain. But recently we started reading up on some athletes who use hemp to recover from workouts and training sessions. Here are a few examples:

Nate Diaz, MMA fighter. Professional mixed martial arts fighter Nate Diaz used a CBD vape pen during a press conference in 2016, causing the media to ask questions. This was about two years before hemp was federally legal, and Nate’s casual vaping helped put a positive spin on CBD for athletes and everyone else. 

In the press conference, Nate said about CBD, “It helps with the healing process and inflammation and stuff like that.”

Gina Mazany, UFC. Professional mixed martial artist Gina Mazany has recently spoken about her use of CBD, saying, “There are so many ways that CBD can benefit everyone in one way or another, but if people are using a product that they aren’t going to make money off of then they are not going to allow it, or make it seem like an evil thing.” 

Mazany reportedly uses CBD for help with anxiety, sleep, and reduction in inflammation. 

Derrick Morgan, NFL. Many NFL players suffer from a concussion-caused brain disease called chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), and Derrick Morgan decided to do a little research about it himself. 

Like many of us researching CBD for the first time, he came across the story of Charlotte Figi, who the famous Charlotte’s Web strain is named after. If you’re not familiar with this story, check out this article for all the amazing details. After Morgan read about how Figi’s seizures were stopped with CBD, he thought maybe it could help him and other NFL athletes.

Since then, he’s been working to create policy change in the NFL so players can use medical cannabis He says, “All I’m asking for is research. I’m not asking to let guys smoke weed and get high. I’m not asking for that. I’m just asking for the NFL and the NFLPA to take a look at the research.”

It’s encouraging to see people in the spotlight talking about the benefits of hemp. These are athletes who have keep their minds and bodies in tip-top shape, so they have to do their research. If they’re using and advocating for hemp, it’s a good sign for the rest of us. We hope to see a lot more research in the near future, and new policies to go with it.