Cliff Robinson Going Into Pot Business As "Uncle Spliffy"

Longtime NBA veteran Cliff Robinson is going into the marijuana business in Oregon. He will be using the name “Uncle Spliffy,” a riff off his nickname “Uncle Cliffy. He already has a website.

Robinson wants to “distill the stigma around cannabis” and promote its therapeutic use for athletes.

" “It’s an opportunity for me to get out there and tell people a little bit about myself outside of basketball,” Robinson said. “People in Oregon know me as a basketball player, but I want to distill the stigma around cannabis, the misperception that athletes and cannabis are incompatible.” In at least one sense, that’s spot on: Robinson agrees that football players or others who engage in contact sports might do well to treat themselves with cannabis as opposed to prescription painkillers. “Cannabis is definitely a more positive alternative to pharmaceuticals at the end of the day,” he said. “Those are synthetics. I’m talking about something that’s natural that can bring the outcomes you’re looking for, be it for muscle tension or relaxation or preparedness. There are a whole lot of different things that are beneficial.” "

Robinson was arrested in 2001 for marijuana possession and DUI. He was also suspended in 2006 for violating the league’s drug policy.

Here’s hoping his career as an entrepreneur goes better than his brief spell as a diplomat.