CBS Sports Radio’s Scott Ferrall spoke with former Red Wings forward Darren McCarty on Wednesday night, and McCarty didn’t pull any punches regarding his post-career palliative of chose, nor his dislike for one Gary Bettman’s NHL:
“I can just tell my truth – and that’s my truth,” McCarty said on Ferrall on the Bench. “Whoever doesn’t think that marijuana is the answer for all these opioids – for me, coming from alcohol and coming from pills and stuff like this and watching guys – Derek Boogaard and Wade Belak – commit suicide, I’m not going to let that happen. So we get the word out. There is some benefits for it. It’s about living better and healthier, and I found it through the bud. Now I can medicate myself. I encourage, encourage, encourage people to get out there and get educated.”
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman must think McCarty is crazy, Scott Ferrall quipped.
“Who cares what Bettman thinks?” McCarty responded. “He ruined my game. Screw him. I’m glad I got to play earlier. What do you expect when you put a basketball lawyer from New York in charge of hockey? It was really a Canadian sort of game. Nothing against the Americans, but you could have made a better selection if you wanted to keep the game that it was, the game that we grew up with. This is a European game. This is a global game. Congratulations, it’s awesome. It’s great. But it’s not my game. It’s not your game.”
Continued, and here’s the interview: