Former NHL Player Joins Cannabis Company

[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]F[/dropcap]ormer Detroit Red Wing and Stanley Cup champion Darren McCarty has formed a collaboration with Pincanna, a medical cannabis cultivation and processing operation in Michigan.

McCarty, who played 15 seasons in the NHL and won four Stanley Cup trophies, wants to broaden the advocacy he has been doing since he said cannabis helped cure his alcoholism and helped him quit smoking cigarettes in 2015. Previous research has shown that CBD might be effective in reducing alcohol consumption and reduce the effects on the liver and brain.

“Frankly, this plant saved my life, so now I’m treating it like it’s a teammate like the Red Wings. You saw how I stuck up for that jersey for years and years and how much it meant to me,” McCarty said. “That’s how much this plant means to me because it’s given me my life back.”

Working with the company, McCarty will lend his name to a range of products from CBD rubs, gummies, a mellowing cannabis strain and a high-potency candy bar. Pincanna also plans to open dispensaries in Kalkaska, East Lansing and Albion. McCarty has experience growing his own cannabis, but will leave all of the cultivation, processing and retail sales to the professionals.

“I’m a four-time Stanley Cup winner, they’re a 45-time Cannabis Cup winner. I’m going to be the first athlete with a Stanley Cup and a Cannabis Cup,” McCarty said.

McCarty joins other former Detroit athletes who have entered the burgeoning industry. Former Detroit Lion Calvin Johnson recently joined the Michigan Industry Cannabis Association’s board of directors. Johnson, along with his business partner and former Lions teammate Robert Sims plan to open several licensed medical cannabis businesses under the brand name Primitive.