Calvin Johnson is thankful that medical cannabis helped keep him healthy during his legendary career with the Detroit Lions.

The former phenom wide receiver revealed in a recent Sports Illustrated interview that he smoked marijuana after every game to deal with a career full of injuries.

Johnson added that he decided to skirt around the league’s infamously strict marijuana policy in order to avoid using prescription opioids, which he says is readily available to players.

“When I got to the league, [there] was opioid abuse,” Johnson told SI. “You really could go in the training room and get what you wanted. I can get Vicodin, I can get Oxy[contin]. It was too available. I used Percocet and stuff like that. And I did not like the way that made me feel. I had my preferred choice of medicine. Cannabis.”

His choice seemed to pay off, as the legend known as Megatron missed only nine of the possible 144 regular-season games throughout his career.

Johnson’s stellar talents didn’t seem to suffer from using so much pot, as he was named as a first-team Pro Bowler three times while racking up 731 receptions for 11,619 yards and 83 touchdowns in 135 games.

He now owns a legal cannabis company, Primitive, with his former teammate Rob Sims as he waits for a potential call-up from the Hall of Fame.

“I was a beast during that time; I was hands down the best receiver in the game,” said Johnson. “I’m not gonna argue with you, but I know I was.”

Oscar Pascual is the editor of Smell the Truth, syndicated on GreenState and SFGATE. Smell The Truth is one of the internet’s most popular destinations for cannabis-related news and culture. This blog is not written or edited by Hearst. The authors are solely responsible for the content.