It did not take long for former NFL first round draft pick and seven year veteran Eugene Monroe to get into the cannabis industry in a big way. The former offensive lineman for the Jacksonville Jaguars and Baltimore Ravens has partnered with VapeXhale, an award-winning vaporizer company, to develop medical cannabis delivery technologies specifically designed for athletes.
Monroe, who was one of two active NFL players that advocated for medicinal cannabis in the NFL, will work to spread knowledge about the benefits of medical cannabis for athletes using VapeXhale’s technologies.
VapeXhale and its founder Seibo Shen are strong supporters of the use of cannabis for athletic recovery. The company has hosted a cannabis training session for mixed martial arts to help change the way people think about cannabis and fitness. Sessions were led by former UFC contender and strikeforce champion Jake Shields, as well as 3X Brazilian Jiu Jitsu world champion Denny Prokopos.
According to Shen, Monroe will be a great asset to the company, along with the overall “cannathlete” movement.
“The great thing about Eugene is that, not only is he a guy that we have a partnership with, but he is actually an investor in the company as well,” Shen said. “A lot of our willingness to work together wasn’t really based on like economics or as a marketing idea; it was more [that] I was very impressed with what he was doing, as far as being an active player and standing up and supporting cannabis.”
Shen added that Monroe was looking for cannabis companies to invest in, and once they started speaking, they realized they both had a lot of similar ideologies that they hold very dear to their heart.
“Eugene had [such] a fondness for VapeXhale that when he tried CBD through our device, he was able to get significantly more therapeutic utility than when he was taking CBD through a vape pen,” he said.
Both Shen and Monroe told Leafly that they would like to create VapeXhale packages that are geared for someone looking for athletic performance or recovery. To date, Monroe uses cannabis to recover from the numerous injuries he suffered from his football playing days.
“Using cannabis to help with post-workout recovery, it has been really beneficial,” Monroe told Leafly. “[Cannabis] relieves pain, discomfort from training. After playing a career in football, I am still dealing with a lot of injuries that I got.”
Moving forward, expect to see more training sessions like the one VapeXhale did with the MMA fighters, according to Shen, Monroe has told him that he wants to get athletes from other sports involved with the movement.
“One of things Eugene wants to help us out with is recruiting athletes from other sports, not just these high impact sports like MMA and football. If you’re a hiker, or tennis player, all these cannabinoids can help.”
Shen added, “Denny [Prokopos], Jake [Shields], Eugene [Monroe], Ricky Williams, Kyle Turley, Cliff Robinson we all call friends. We all have a similar goal, which is to be cannathletes and promote responsible cannabis use.”
