Chris Long, former defenseman for the Philadelphia Eagles who helped lead the team to a Super Bowl victory, was back in town last week for a meet-and-greet with fans.

“It’s been a few years since I’ve been on the team, but I still feel welcome when I come back,” Long told Fox News Digital in an interview at Curaleaf Holdings KURLF cannabis Pharmacy in Bordentown, NJbordering the Pennsylvania-New Jersey border.

How many former athletes, Long has become a proponent of using cannabis to treat chronic pain, inflammation, and sleep issues. Sleeping well was and still is important to Long.

“Actually, what made me turn to cannabis is sleep. So for me it was insomnia, sleeping pills — all kinds of nasty side effects — and it really just had an overall negative effect on my mental health and just my sleep,” he told Fox. “I also enjoy using cannabis for a variety of reasons. But what drives me was sleep.”

NFL rules are now softer on cannabis

In the past, the NFL was much stricter than it is today when it comes to failed drug tests for weed. Last year, the NFL changed its drug policy for the first time Exclusion from marijuana testing during the off-season. In February 2021, the league invested $1 million in Marijuana Research.

“Now they’ve raised the threshold to make it easier to go around. But I think removing the stigma in sport is very important. Just as we remove the stigma in general. I mean it’s something you have to use responsibly. But we shouldn’t be afraid of it,” Long said. “It’s something that’s a tool for a lot of people. And it was for me as an athlete.”

Long said he now smokes weed to relieve his social anxiety and prefers a joint to wine.

“I use it for social anxiety because I’m going somewhere and everyone else is having three or four drinks or whatever, and I’m not really looking, you know, at going to a dinner party and…