Steve Kerr drew a controversy in his confession and comment with the usage of about using medical marijuana. Draymond Green and Klay Thompson defended him, while the Suns coach said that Kerr’s support for marijuana can be taken in a wrong way.
The 51-year old coach does not stop to draw controversy this season. Following his rant which drew him a $25,000 fines from the NBA last month, he made another controversial remarks. This time is about marijuana and its medicinal purpose.
During the pregame interview against Phoenix Suns on Saturday, Dec. 3, he admitted to use marijuana for medical purpose to treat his chronic back pain. Kerr suffered the pain since the 2015 NBA Finals, which making him missing 43 games in the 2015-16 regular season.
He tried the medical marijuana for his pain, but he admitted that it didn’t work well. However, he said the marijuana are better than prescribed painkillers drugs because it is less harmful and addictive.
His comment has drawn criticism from Phoenix Suns’ head coach Earl Watson. He said in the post-game intervew as quoted by New York Daily News that he understood Kerr’s statement. But he said that Kerr’s comment on marijuana can be misinterpreted by young people and a slippery slope for young NBA fans.
"I think our rhetoric on it has to be very careful because you have a lot of kids where I'm from that's reading this,” Watson said. He also pointed that kids will take the comment in a wrong way.
However, the Warriors players are backing their coaches for medical marijuana as reported by
ESPN. Green said that Kerr’s comment on medical marijuana is making sense, because many people use it to ease the pain they are going through.
Thompson also said in accordance with his team mate to defend the coach. He said that Kerr's use of medical marijuana is not a recreational use. Thompson also stated the medical benefit from marijuana to people who is in really high pain.
Watch the pregame interview with Steve Kerr from TNT’s Inside the NBA below:
