Hall of Famer Allen Iverson talks about the stigma attached to smoking marijuana during his time in the league and how it tainted his image
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Allen Iverson was a revolutionary player in the NBA, drafted in 1996. The 6-foot guard was one of the most elite scorers in a league otherwise dominated by the bigs at the time. Over the years, Iverson established himself as a cultural icon. From his hip-hop dress code to his demeanor, Iverson developed a niche fan base for himself.
The former MVP had developed the reputation of a bad boy during his time in the league. Iverson was a highly controversial player, involved in several conflicts. The former rookie of the year would publicly criticize late commissioner David Stern’s new mandate for dress code. At the time, the league was suffering from an image crisis.
AI was subject to a lot of fault-finding due to his habit of smoking marijuana. The 11x All-Star was at the receiving end of a lot of name-callings. However, with years gone by, smoking marijuana is no longer considered a taboo, with many states in the USA legalizing it.
In his recent interview with BR, Iverson spoke about the personal attacks he was a victim of for smoking weed. The Sixers legend spoke about being arrested as well.
Allen Iverson talks about the change in perspective over the years when it comes to smoking marijuana.
Iverson has faced some hard times during his life, including being wrongly convicted on assault charges as a teenager. The four-time scoring champion has been at the receiving end of a lot of false propaganda.
Thus while speaking about the possession of weed in today’s times, Iverson called out the people for their double standards. The 46-year faced arrest as a rookie for having weed on him.
“Like I said it was such a stigma back then, you know what I mean. I went through the bad boy thing when I first came into the league. The fact that I had all these guys with me and we smoke marijuana, it was like you were labeled as a villain.”
AI added,
“I could hear the people in the crowd calling me ‘weed head’ on the road. It was bad and now all these years later look where we are and how far we’ve come.”
Former NBA player Al Harrington accompanied Iverson as a guest during the interview. Harrington would talk about the racial discrimination regarding the subject of marijuana.
Iverson was way ahead of his time. The fact that AI was scrutinized for something that has become a part of our society now speaks volumes about the hypocritical world we live in.
