Phil Jackson Says He Smoked Marijuana During Recovery from Back Surgery

New York Knicks president Phil Jackson revealed Tuesday that he used marijuana in the past to help him deal with the effects of back surgery.

"I was smoking marijuana during that period of time," Jackson said during We Need to Talk on CBS Sports Network (via CBSSports.com's James Herbert). "I think it was a distraction for me as much as a pain reliever. But I never thought of it as ultimately a pain medication for that type of situation."

While playing for the Knicks, Jackson had spinal surgery that kept him out for the entire 1969-70 season.

Jackson then turned the discussion to marijuana usage more broadly among NBA players: "We have tried to stop [marijuana use] in the NBA. I don't think we have been able to stop it. I think it still goes on and is still a part of the culture in the NBA. It is something that we either have to accommodate or figure out another way to deal with it."

His comments come after Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said he used medicinal marijuana when he was experiencing back pain. On The Warriors Insider podcast (via ESPN.com's Chris Haynes), Kerr said the marijuana didn't help him cope with the pain, but he understood why athletes might use marijuana for similar reasons.

Haynes provided a response from the league after Kerr's interview:

In a piece for the Players' Tribune in February, former Chicago Bulls guard Jay Williams wrote that he had become addicted to painkillers following the motorcycle crash that ended his NBA career. He argued marijuana would've been a better pain reliever than prescription drugs:

Phoenix Suns head coach Earl Watson spoke to Haynes about the issue and cautioned against normalizing marijuana usage:

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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, and they think [marijuana use is] cool. It's not cool. Where I'm from, you don't get six fouls to foul out. You get three strikes. One strike leads to another. I'm just being honest with you, so you have to be very careful with your rhetoric.

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Voters in California, Massachusetts and Nevada recently passed laws allowing recreational use of marijuana, joining Alaska, Washington, Oregon and Colorado, all of which had already passed marijuana-related legislation.