Sports are huge in America, not only business-wise, but culturally. Sports were racially desegregated in America before the rest of our society. Athletes can have a profound impact upon our culture, we have seen this from numerous athletes, from Jesse Owens to Jackie Robinson to Muhammad Ali. It is very telling that more and more athletes, particularly former ones, are now speaking out about the need to improve our nation’s cannabis laws. Current athletes have their livelihood and careers at stake, so they need those like four-time NBA champion John Salley to speak out for them and Salley will be speaking out loud and clear at the International Cannabis Business Conference (ICBC) in San Francisco on February 17th!

Too often, cannabis users have been portrayed as lazy and unmotivated and athletes help shatter this ridiculous stereotype. Cannabis use didn’t stop Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt from becoming Olympic champions. In fact, the biggest detriment that marijuana seems to have on an athlete is getting arrested or failing a drug test. Salley, who is best known for his time on the Detroit Pistons “Bad Boys” championship teams in 1989 and 1990, believes that his NBA career could have been prolonged if he had started using medical cannabis earlier.

John Salley joins the growing ranks of former athletes speaking out for cannabis law reform, including fellow former NBA star Clifford Robinson and former NFL pro bowlers Ricky Williams, Kyle Turley, Eugene Monroe and Mark Stepnoski. NBA champion (as a coach and player) Steve Kerr acknowledged his medical cannabis use as did coaching legend Phil Jackson. Hopefully, with more and more athletes speaking out, we’ll start to see sports leagues change their strict anti-cannabis policies.

It is great to have John Salley willing to speak out about his support for the cannabis community and industry and he joins rock icon Henry Rollins to make this year’s ICBC a unique, one-of-a-kind event that mixes together great business information and political activism. With California, the world’s 6th-largest economy legalizing cannabis, this year’s International Cannabis Business Conference in San Francisco is a must-attend event. Get your tickets now before prices go up on February 1st!

This blog was originally published at www.internationalcbc.com and has been reposted here  with special permission.