Mike Tyson reveals the backstory behind his marijuana reform crusade
"Some of us can't live, can't function without it," Tyson told Fox News Digital, adding that he is "100%" one of those people. He believes he would likely be in prison and "less successful as a human being" if he never discovered the plant.
Cannabis played heavily into Tyson's fight with YouTuber Jake Paul. Tyson says he was heavily under the influence of marijuana when he agreed to the match.
When asked if he would have agreed to fight Paul if he was sober, Tyson said "I don't really believe so, no."
The day of the match, Tyson said he used marijuana "not long before" the fight started.
"Yeah, I can't stop. … I don't think I was high. I was very relaxed and cool," Tyson said of his state of mind before the fight. "It put me at an advantage."
After losing to Paul in eight rounds, Tyson immediately used marijuana again.
"I said I needed a joint right away. As soon as it ended, I needed a joint. Let's get out of here," Tyson said. "It was like I was dreaming. It was like a dream. It was beautiful. It felt like I won the fight."
When asked if he will fight again, Tyson said, "It depends on if cannabis ever becomes legal or not and rescheduled."
By "rescheduled," Tyson means he wants to see the plant officially reclassified by the government from a category that is defined by high potential for abuse with no accepted medical use to a category of moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence.
It is one of the three points Tyson advocated in a recent letter to President Donald Trump's White House that he wrote in conjunction with other superstar athletes and entertainers, like Kevin Durant and Allen Iverson.
Tyson, Durant and the others are pushing for reform and are putting their faith in Trump. Joe Biden, and previously Barack Obama, did not achieve major federal reform for cannabis or significant clemency for those incarcerated for non-violent cannabis crimes during their respective terms.
"It was a letdown, but you have to respect they were in power. You have to respect that," Tyson said. "We have a different president now, so we're talking to him. So, it seems to be a lot different talking to President Trump than with the other guy. And, like I said before, that's their agenda. This is our agenda right here."
Tyson added he believes the rescheduling of marijuana is the top priority in his federal reform goals. On top of that, he and his supporters want to see mass clemency for nonviolent marijuana offenders.
Tyson said seeing people going to jail for these offenses was an unfortunate memory of his childhood.
"I always knew that. I always knew that I am friends with those people, people come from my community," Tyson said. He recalled one member of his community he watched go to jail when he was a kid and who wasn't released until Tyson became an established fighter.
A recent study by researchers at UC San Francisco determined that eating edible cannabis, such as gummies, has the same cardiovascular risk as smoking marijuana for long-term users. The risk stems from reduced blood vessel function, according to the study, published in JAMA Cardiology May 28.
Tyson admitted to first using the drug before he was 10 years old. Now, he believes the minimum age for a cannabis user should be 21.
For Tyson, the plant became a key component in achieving success as a boxer. He claims it made him a better athlete as a fighter, and he often used it after fights to recover.
Other than the Paul fight, Tyson says there was only one other time when he used cannabis just before a fight. It was against Andrew Golota in 2000, a fight Tyson won by technical knockout.
"Very relaxing, very calm, very — I don't know — just very free," Tyson said of the experience winning that fight under the influence of cannabis.
Tyson added the plant helped him avoid other drugs, like cocaine and alcohol.
"It makes you health conscious," Tyson said.
However, when the plant was illegal and criminalized throughout parts of the U.S., Tyson said he would get sick from using cannabis he bought off the street that was laced with chemicals. He says it happened multiple times.
"It wasn't good. It felt like my throat was going to explode," Tyson said.
Preventing the spread of marijuana laced with chemicals is one of the driving factors behind Tyson's push for federal reform. He believes the industry must be legitimized to snuff out the black market marijuana trade.
The final point he made in his letter to Trump was to put an end to banking practices that restrict the financial management for cannabis businesses.
"They're going to do it anyway, legal or illegal, so let's make it safe. Get all the bad actors out of the picture," Tyson said.
Tyson isn't embarking on his mission alone. He, Durant and Iverson were joined in the letter by former boxer Roy Jones Jr., former Dallas Cowboys star Dez Bryant, former NFL star Antonio Brown and former NFL player and prominent cannabis advocate Ricky Williams.
They were also joined by music producer Weldon Angelos, who was sentenced to 55 years in prison in November 2004 for marijuana charges. Angelos was released in 2016 and pardoned by Trump in December 2020. The letter also criticized former President Joe Biden for a lack of action on addressing marijuana-related incarceration.
"We want [Trump] to follow through on his campaign promises," Angelos said.
"I think a lot of athletes use cannabis for medicinal purposes. That's why so many athletes are on the letter that we organized, because cannabis has helped him. Just look at Mike Tyson. … Cannabis has helped him tremendously. So, cannabis is a medicine, People need to have access to it."
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