NHL Players Are Choosing Marijuana And Video Games Over Alcohol And Partying, With Two-Thirds Using Edibles This Season, Survey Shows

The culture within the National Hockey League (NHL) is changing—with players increasingly opting for marijuana and video games over alcohol and partying for leisure.

That’s according to a survey of more than three dozen NHL athletes across different teams that The New York Times recently conducted.

Asked whether they’ve used cannabis edibles during the regular season, 38 percent of players said they did. It’s not clear whether that portion of players would increase if they were asked more broadly about marijuana use to include smoking or vaping, for example.

Florida Panthers defenseman Nate Schmidt commented on the cultural shifting, noting that when he entered the league a decade ago, cannabis use wasn’t a commonly accepted recreational activity, while alcohol consumption dominated.

“If you can’t play hungover in this league, you don’t belong in it,” Schmidt said he was told years ago. “Today, particularly among a younger generation of players, that’s changed. Few players are willing to show up to the rink feeling the aftereffects of a late night out.”

Interestingly, The Athletic—a subsidiary of the Times that reported the story and survey—found that most players they spoke with said they preferred cannabis edibles with a balance of THC and CBD, the most commonly known intoxicating and non-intoxicating cannabinoids in marijuana, respectively.

However, while the recreational preferences of players have shifted, especially since Canada legalized marijuana nationwide and most U.S. states have enacted some form of legalization, there’s still a generational gap, Schmidt said.

“For younger players, the stigma has disappeared,” he said. “For older players it hasn’t.”

As more professional sports leagues are reforming their cannabis policies amid the legalization movement, NHL has stood out as one that has long declined to penalize players over THC. That said, if there’s an “abnormally” high level of cannabis in a person’s system, they may be referred to a Players Assistance program for potential intervention.

Meanwhile, the National Football League (NFL) recently reached an agreement with its players union to further reform its marijuana policies, significantly reducing fines for positive tests while increasing the allowable THC threshold for players.

About four years after NFL ended the practice of suspending players over cannabis or other drugs as part of a collective bargaining agreement, the league has again revised its Substances of Abuse Policy and Performance Enhancing Substances Policy.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) last June voted to remove marijuana from its banned substances list for Division I players.

The reform builds on a 2022 change that increased the allowable THC threshold for college athletes, aligning NCAA’s rules with those of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

In October, Nevada regulators officially adopted a rule change that will protect athletes from being penalized for using or possessing marijuana in compliance with state law.

The head of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) blasted the “unfair” ban on marijuana for athletes competing in international sport events, including the Olympics that were underway in Paris at the time of the comments.

USADA CEO Travis Tygart said it was “disappointing” that WADA has maintained the cannabis prohibition based on what he considers a misguided justification.

WADA did carry out a review into its marijuana policy at the request of USADA and the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) following the controversial suspension of U.S. runner Sha’Carri Richardson, who was barred from participating in the Olympics in 2021 after she tested positive for THC. Richardson said she used cannabis to cope with the recent passing of her mother.

While the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) announced in late 2023 that it was formally removing marijuana from its modified banned substances list for athletes, the league notified participants that the reform didn’t apply under California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) rules.

UFC advised fighters that they could be subject to a $100 fine by CSAS if they tested over 150 nanograms of THC per milliliter ahead of the UFC 298 event that took place in February.

At the beginning of 2024, the Brooklyn Nets and New York Liberty entered into partnerships with a CBD beverage company—the first teams in the NBA and WNBA, respectively, to forge deals with the cannabis industry.

The New York-based clubs are partnering with Mynd Drinks, a hemp-based CBD sparkling beverage company that also made history last year when it became an official partner of the Major League Baseball (MLB) team the Chicago Cubs.

Last January, NFL announced it was partnering with Canadian researchers on a clinical trial to test the safety and efficacy of CBD for pain management and neuroprotection from concussions—key issues for many football players who experience injuries as part of the game.

Separately, NFL and the Denver Broncos in July asked a federal court to reject a player’s lawsuit alleging discrimination over penalties he incurred due to positive THC tests from his prescribed use of a synthetic cannabinoid.

In a joint motion to dismiss filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, the league and team defended their marijuana policy for players, affirming it’s their view that use of cannabis can lead to on-field injuries, poor job performance and “alienation of the fans.”

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