Former NFL player and Georgia Bulldog Champ Bailey visited Macon last week to promote Bibb County’s latest medical THC clinic, citing the benefits of the treatment for chronic pain and other conditions.
Bailey, a Super Bowl champion and NFL Hall of Famer said that many football players and regular people alike could benefit from medical cannabis.
“From personal experience, I always knew that cannabis could be a good medicine,” Bailey said. “Through my connections through people I played ball with, even people I grew up with, as we’ve gotten older, I realized those aches and pains and chronic illnesses that they deal with, a lot of them have been susceptible to addiction.”
The clinic, Trulieve Medical Dispensary on Riverside Drive near Tom Hill, is legal and offers low-strength THC treatments ranging from tinctures to creams, Bailey said. The chain opened multiple locations in Georgia this year including others in towns like Newnan and Marrietta.
Bailey, Trulieve’s chief diversity officer, said the stigma surrounding medical THC keeps some people from getting treatment that could help them, even more so for his fellow athletes in the past.
“Former athletes were always pushed towards opioids. We never had the opportunity to try something that was more natural, that could help us more,” he said. “So now that people’s minds are transitioning to this being acceptable and usable, it’s been enlightening… We just have to get people more aware that it’s out there to use, legally.”
Bailey commended the NFL for recently softening its stance on cannabis use, but said the drug still needs to overcome its reputation with everyday people.
“That’s the challenge we’re going to have here in the south as well, people grew up thinking a lot of bad things about marijuana,” Bailey said. “We gotta dispel a lot of those stigmas and try to really educate people on what the benefits are.”
Bailey joined Trulieve specifically to help them get the licenses they needed for Georgia and to do away with the negative reputation surrounding medical cannabis, using his status as an NFL legend to push the industry forward.
Patients can go to their doctor to obtain a low THC oil card that allows them to get THC products. Doctors can recommend specific products and patients can pick them up at Trulieve’s Riverside office.
“The only thing that saved my life was THC, and now I’m almost to a normally functioning liver,” said Tracey Crawford, a patient visiting the dispensary. He had stage four liver cirrhosis. “It does work, it does help.”
The sleek interior of the building is well secured, as the area where THC items are for sale requires key card access and guests must fill out visitor passes. Products for sale in wall-mounted cases line the interior of the room along with TVs displaying logos and product names.
“It’s like a spa here,” Bailey said with a smile. “It’s a big step forward in the message we want to send.”
H/T: www.macon.com
