Kevin Durant Passionately Defends Marijuana Use In Sport, Admits He's High During Interview

Kevin Durant has opened up on the misconceptions about athletes using marijuana.

From established mixed martial artists to Olympic hopefuls, throughout time we've seen a number of sports stars fined or even banned from their respective competitions because cannabis has been found in their system during drug tests.

Not just that, though, everyday people have also spent time behind bars for various marijuana-related crimes.

But as places across the United States are starting to legalise it, there are more and more conversations sparking up that aim to break down the stigma of weed.

NBA megastar Durant, who has been in the league for 15 years, has now discussed his views on cannabis, comparing it to sipping on a "glass of wine".

During an appearance on Netflix’s My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman, Durant informed the host that he was "high right now" during the interview before going on to passionately defend marijuana use within sport.

"To me it clears the distractions out of your brain a little bit.” Durant said.

“It settles you down. It's like having a glass of wine.”

Asked by Letterman whether he smoked during the day, Durant replied: "Yes. I'm actually high right now."

The Brooklyn Nets star then talked about his investments in a in cannabis tech platform called Weedmaps.

“We partner with them on content and trying to figure out ways to change the narrative around athletes and marijuana,” he said.

"It's confusing to a lot of people. You could look around this city [New York] and in a year or two there's going to be dispensaries everywhere where you can actually go and buy weed.

"It's crazy that you've got people in jail for 20 years for maybe selling a pound."

As discussions around marijuana continue to pop up, more and more high profile athletes are coming out in support of 'destigmatising' it, although this isn't the first time that Durant has waded in himself though.

“In the sports world, it was kind of an undercover thing, that players used cannabis, and used it while they were actively playing," he told Forbes back in 2021.

"And I always thought that was an interesting thing, even as I started to come into the league. Now you hear the conversation more and more around the league about it [cannabis]."