We watch NBA players doing superhuman things on the court every year. From Kyrie Irving’s head spinning handles to The Greek Freak flying through the air before slamming the ball over another grown man and screaming in triumph. Professional basketball players are larger than life on and off the court. For civilians like me forget pro athletes are susceptible to the same traps like taking too many cannabis edibles on a plane, which is a great equalizer of human consciousness. Miami Heat guard Dion Waiters found out the hard way after having an apparent panic attack after eating a weed gummy.
Waiters were allegedly given a THC-infused gummy by a teammate and ended up getting way too high. Waiters then passed out and had a severe panic attack once he woke up. Some silly reports surfaced Waiters had suffered a stroke, but seeing as how it’s virtually impossible to overdose on cannabis, that’s obviously not true. However, getting too high and freaking out is rather common. It happened to me just last week after I drank way too much THC-infused juice at an event. I probably had a panic attack too, it sucks, but you live to fight another day.
This entire incident cost Waiter 10 games of the 2019 season for conduct detrimental to the team and has yet to step on the court this season. Cannabis use is punishable under NBA’s drug policy but its openly known that NBA players use it. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver went on record saying player cannabis use “is complicated,” but isn’t overly concerning because it’s not a performance-enhancing drug. Any change in the cannabis policy would have to be negotiated in a future collective bargaining agreement.
