(Bloomberg) – A group of former National Football League players is using the Super Bowl to push for a new policy on marijuana, saying the substance should be more widely available as an alternative to opioid painkillers.

Former Chicago Bears quarterback Jim McMahon said pot has helped him numb lingering pain from injuries sustained during 15 seasons in the league. And it's done so, he said, without the side effects he experienced from the opioid Percocet.

"This is something that has got to get into the mainstream," he said this week at Cannabis in Professional Sports, a public forum in Houston, days before the city hosts the Super Bowl on Feb. 5.

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