Kevin Durant says he lobbied the NBA to get the cannabis ban lifted

In his 15 seasons in the NBA, Kevin Durant has won two championships and a Most Valuable Player award while establishing himself as one of the all-time leading scorers in the game.

But it turns out that one of his most significant contributions to the league was off the pitch. And when he was under the influence.

Appearing at a sports business summit aired on CNBC Tuesday, the Phoenix Suns star said he personally lobbied NBA Commissioner Adam Silver to get the league’s marijuana ban lifted.

“I actually called him and lobbied for him to take marijuana off the banned substance list,” Durant told CNBC host Andrew Ross Sorkin at the event. “I just felt like it’s becoming a thing across the country and across the world… the stigma behind it wasn’t as negative as it used to be. It will not affect you in any way.”

Under a new collective bargaining agreement between the NBA and the players’ union, the league will no longer test players for marijuana. The agreement, which went into effect earlier this month, also allows players to invest in cannabis companies — which Durant and his business partners have done.

“Marijuana will be removed from the Prohibited Substances List (‘PSL’),” the CBA said. “A team that has reason to believe that one of its players is under the influence of marijuana or alcohol during NBA or team-related activities, or has a marijuana- or alcohol-related addiction problem, may refer the player to a required evaluation treatment program. ” .”

The agreement also allows players to “invest in a company that manufactures products containing only CBD and hold a passive, non-controlling interest in a company that manufactures products containing marijuana.” Players “will continue to be prohibited from promoting marijuana companies, but a player may promote a company that manufactures products containing only CBD,” the agreement reads.

Recounting his meeting with Silver, Durant said the commissioner could easily see his passion for the subject.

“Well, he smelled it when I walked in, so I don’t really have to say much,” Durant said at the summit, triggering laughter from the crowd. “He kind of understood where this was going. And I mean, it’s the NBA, man. To be honest everyone does it. At this point it is like wine.”

Durant, who was traded to the Suns from the Brooklyn Nets last season, has been open about his pot use in the past.

In an interview last year on David Letterman’s Netflix series, Durant told the former late-night legend that he’s “high right now.”

“For me, it takes a little bit of the distractions out of your brain. Soothes You. It’s like having a glass of wine,” Durant told Letterman, adding that he “wanted to change the narrative around athletes and marijuana.”

“It’s insane that you put people in jail for 20 years for maybe selling a pound,” Durant said.

The NBA first began eliminating marijuana testing for players in 2020 when it announced it was suspending testing in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We decided that given all the things that were happening in society, given the pressure and stress that the players were under, we didn’t have to act like Big Brother now,” Silver said at the time. “I think society’s views on marijuana have changed to some degree.”

Other sports leagues have also relaxed their policies on marijuana use. In 2019, Major League Baseball removed cannabis from its list of prohibited substances.