Former AFL player Koby Stevens has revealed he turned to medicinal cannabis in a bid to deal with his concussion symptoms.
The 27-year-old was forced into premature retirement last year after suffering numerous concussions in the final few years of his career while playing for St Kilda.
The former West Coast Eagles and Western Bulldogs midfielder says the cannabis medication immediately had a positive impact.
“I couldn’t even get up off a chair without falling over or leave the house for three months,” he told the Herald Sun.
“Often I couldn’t sleep for days. I got put on a lot of medication to help my headaches and none of that helped and at times it made me worse.
“Within two days of starting that (medicinal cannabis) treatment my headaches were gone and I was clear so it’s pretty amazing, powerful stuff.
“A close friend whose son had been injured before mentioned that a lot of NFL players and people in America were using medicinal cannabis for treatment of concussion and traumatic brain injuries.”
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Over the course of his 91-game career, Stevens suffered 10 concussions which left him with chronic headaches, prompting his retirement.
He concedes pulling the pin on footy was the best thing for him.
“It was pretty severe and pretty scary at the time but looking back at it now I’m glad I made the decision that I did to retire,” he added.
“There’s a lot of life and footy’s only a small part of it.”
