While the 2019 Texas Legislature Session didn’t legislatively end the idealistic way that many cannabis advocates dreamed of, the session nevertheless strengthened the advocacy community in Texas and showed both the true might and the vast diversity of the community simultaneously. Every political and religious affiliation who find cannabis prohibition and the Drug War as a whole to be a critical failure, our brave veterans and civilians alike who’ve found medicinal relief, parents of children with conditions on the autism spectrum disorder and as of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee hearing on House Bill 3703 on May 17th, the families of retired professional athletes who’ve transformed into medical cannabis advocates from a personal tragedy.
Throughout the course of his collegiate and professional football careers, former tight end Jay Novacek made a name for himself as one of the all-time greats, especially within the franchise of the Dallas Cowboys. A five-time Pro Bowler and three-time Super Bowl Champion among many other athletic accolades who was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2008, the former Cowboy and his wife Amy suffered a horrific tragedy in 2015 when their son, Blake, received a traumatic brain injury from a brutal assault during a University of Oklahoma fraternity hazing incident.
Seizures, migraines, memory issues, severe depression and anxiety became an unfortunate constant for their son who once had dreams of becoming the next Rich Eisen or whichever nationally syndicated sports journalist you’d prefer as an example. However, the Novaceks admit that their son received some form of medicinal relief, not through a laundry list of pharmaceuticals, but from the oil of a plant that’s becoming an increasingly common treatment for a number of conditions throughout the country. Through the obvious evidence that cannabinoid-based medicine has helped both their son and the children of countless other parents, the Novaceks have since become huge high-profile proponents for the medicinal value of cannabis.
To hear about their advocacy firsthand as well as to receive an understanding into what the next steps for advocates are and how the National Football League’s substance abuse policy could be amended to allow cannabis-based medicines, Texas Cannabis Collective sat down with Amy and Jay Novacek.
JK: Mr. Novacek, my first question is for you in particular. Numerous former athletes of the National Football League have become outspoken proponents of the medicinal qualities of cannabis in treating several lasting ailments that arise from a career of playing such a hard-hitting sport, Marvin Washington and Calvin Johnson being a few of the many examples. Yet as it stands according to NFL’s substance abuse policy, cannabis is a banned substance while CBD seems to exist in a grey area and Commissioner Goodell doesn’t seem too fond of amending those policies outright. What actions would have to take place within the organization for that policy to be amended to allow the medicinal use of cannabinoid-based medicines?
Jay: Well truthfully, I can’t answer that question. I think the main thing is once there’s going to be more states that allow medical marijuana to be used, that’s going to have to be put in effect with not only the NFL but any business that would test for drugs. This drug is not new, but it’s very new to the medical industry. Just from the outside looking in, I think there’s more tests done with individuals and their testimonies than done by the medical field to have all this factual evidence that really says “there’s something to this.” Once all these people are going to be benefiting from it, then it’s going to go all parts of the country.
There’s going to be change in the future just because all these testimonies are coming out. When people are going from having all these seizures then having next to none, there’s gotta be something to that and the medical field has to get involved and help the American people.
JK: How did the two of you become involved in medical cannabis advocacy? And how would you describe your viewpoints towards medical cannabis usage prior to your son tragically receiving a brain injury versus what they currently are?
Jay: I don’t think either one of us were advocates for it five years ago. (Since Blake’s assault incident) I became educated on the subject, not to the degree of researching it and getting every piece of information possible. But more so the fact of how your brain is made up and the chemicals in that and the same type of chemicals are in CBD.
Amy: We didn’t think anything about it. Our generation and older only thought ‘people smoke pot to get high’ and I don’t think we put a lot of thought into it. However in 2013, I had an almost fatal car accident and a ton of problems since then. I’ve had people recommend that (cannabinoid-based medicines) but I took the opioids when I needed it and didn’t abuse them and they helped me get through.
Fast forward, we began to see the difference. When our son was assaulted, he’d never used it before. With his pain and seizures, he was using it and was a pretty normal kid until he wasn’t using it.
We experienced it firsthand and what we saw what the difference was. With all the different people and their testimonies, we could relate. It’s one thing for people to tell you about it, but when it hits home and you have a family member that is having seizures like Blake, you know what the cannabis did prior. And now we don’t have it and we see his health spin out of control, that’s terrifying. I think the education through people, through reading and through personal experience with our son. That’s why we’re advocating for it.”
JK: Your heartfelt testimony during the Senate Health and Human Services committee hearing over House Bill 3703 was deeply impactful and I genuinely hope Blake’s story helps in changing the opinions of legislators who may still subscribe to a prohibitionist philosophy. In regards to specifically the treatment of traumatic brain injuries and chronic traumatic encephalopathy, would an expansion of the Texas Compassionate Use Act (TCUP) be effective or would the more encompassing House Bill 1365 be the bill to more effectively treat TBI and/or CTE for Texans?
Amy: If they (Texas Legislature) are not going to go along with what doctors and institutions are doing outside of Texas, then they need to allow for the testing to be done here. We don’t know the laws in those other states well. But if anything, the studies are very important and that’s how we find out what works and what doesn’t work.
As far as TBI, Blake will always have brain damage. I don’t know how much legitimacy there is to this, but I’ve read some studies that show that cannabis can repair the brain. But if his brain could heal and mend even ten percent, that’s huge for a 22-year-old. If that medicine can truly do that for him, why wouldn’t you give it the opportunity?
(During a meeting with Lt. Governor Dan Patrick, the Lt. Gov’s lawyer asked exactly which verbiage the Novaceks would wish to see in the legislation of House Bill 3703. After calling their neurologist and learning the exact verbiage to put in the bill, Amy said that Lt Gov. Patrick promised to look into the matter, although TBI ultimately wasn’t included in HB 3703’s qualifying conditions.)
Amy: With our state reps and our senators, if they don’t know, why would it be wrong for them to be educated? We shouldn’t sign contracts if we don’t read them. Then why should we expect our state reps to go over something if they don’t know what’s in it? We want them to be educated.
And we’re talking about people with severe debilitation. And if you saw our interview on CBS, Joshua Raines was the veteran who gave his interview after ours. He said that he’s lost more friends who he fought with through suicide than he did in combat. And he asked “why is that I have to pick to die legally than be alive illegally”? And when Jay and I were listening to that, it hit us so hard in the face.
I think there’s a lot here that we have to consider and it breaks my heart that the veterans were left out. Again, Jay and I aren’t doctors and we don’t know the intricacies, but our veterans deserve every single opportunity and chance they could possibly have.
Jay: I think looking into the future in two more years, it’s going to be an even better bill for us with it being more expanded and more lenient on the dosage. I think they’re not only going to hear a few testimonies but there’s going to be millions of people able to testify that this was a good thing for them and their families.
JK: If you don’t mind me asking of course, how has cannabis/CBD previously been effective in the treatment of the conditions caused by Blake’s injury where common pharmaceuticals failed to do so?
Amy: We were still having seizures and some migraines, but he could think. His thought process was on track, he could remember things. Not having the medicine, he can’t remember. When we could use cannabis, it was effective. But when we couldn’t use it, we lost our son agai.
JK: And have any pharmaceuticals been effective at all?
Amy: Yeah they have been really effective in making him depressed. The benzodiazepines help with calming the system down. When Senator Campbell came up after Blake seized in the Senate gallery, she asked if I had Ativan or if we had Xanax, the second of which was in our car. Jay went out and got the Xanax and we gave it to him and it helped suppress the system and his brain closed down.
Here we are, opioids and benzodiazepines. That’s what we have to give him. He’s lived with a headache for about 2 years that’s a 7,8,9 or 10 (on the pain scale) and he says it’s like 40 rubber bands around your head squeezing. And the hydrocodone he’s a 10 and although he doesn’t want it all the time because he’s scared of what opioids does to his body, I’m insistent because he’s so nonfunctional and that might help about 20 percent. It’ll take the bad sting off but it’ll bring his headache down to a 7 or 8. It doesn’t help with the seizures but it helps about 20 percent with the headaches and neck pain.
JK: So is the CBD more effective then?
Amy: Absolutely.
JK: For both advocates and patients alike, what are some meaningful ways to powerfully show their support behind this bill as well as the obvious medical uses of cannabis in order to change the opinions of those lawmakers who may still be ignorant towards the benefits?
Jay: I think one of the huge ways is to thank your representatives and senators for allowing this to be part of their lives and encourage to see what other ways this could be improved even more. They all have a tough job. They have hundreds and hundreds of bills they have to go through and it’s impossible for one person to do all of that. Then, seeing what other ways that this could improve to a even better, more wide range of individuals who have the opportunity to live a whole lot better life.
Amy: I’m a visual person. So when I see and talk to people and when I see the struggles and what people are going through, whether it’s by a picture or video, that’s so impactful. I would recommend that people write letters, take pictures, videos, talk about it. I think we need doctors and law enforcement.
Do you know how many law enforcement people I talked to that were in support of this bill? Not recreational, but medicinal for doctors. I was shocked because I was told that there was no law enforcement for this. When I talked to people, that is the furthest from the truth. I believe that there are some, absolutely. I think there’s some on both sides on everything. But, I think law enforcement, doctors and educated people with experience and people need to come forward and share what they’ve been through and real life stories.
For doctors and those that do the studies, give us the proof. Show us on paper in your studies and give it to these people and educate, educate, educate.
We’re really positive and we’re hopeful. Jay and I and our whole family, even our 16 year-old daughter and my parents, everybody is so very thankful for the hard work that the advocates have done. You have the TX MAMMA’s and the veterans and there’s so many people that have been doing the heavy lifting and have made this possible. And we had our Legislature that grinded down and worked hard to get this done. You got Lucio, Menendez, Campbell, Klick, there’s a whole list of these people.
They didn’t get all they wanted but we got our foot in the door, so the door’s open a little and that’s a start. We’re thankful that our family gets at least the chance at stopping these seizures.
(Writer’s Note: To both conclude the interview that us at Texas Cannabis Collective are so fortunate to receive on a humorous note and to make my mother happy as a belated Mother’s Day/birthday present, below is a blurry photo of myself at 8 years old, circa 2000 or so, apparently interrupting Mr. Novacek’s dinner.)
