Former Chicago Bears quarterback Jim McMahon is advocating for marijuana as a medicinal alternative for pain management and wants the substance off the NFL's banned substance list.

McMahon told an audience at last week's Cannabis World Congress and Business Expo that marijuana "is not only an effective painkiller, but it is also far safer than the opioid painkillers that have destroyed thousands of American families."

Eugene Monroe is the only active player to publicly support the use of marijuana. After his release by the Baltimore Ravens, he said in a statement on Thursday that he won't stop his push to include medical cannabis as a viable option for pain management in the NFL.

"I will do everything I can to ensure the generations of NFL players after me won't have to resort to harmful and addictive opioids as their only option for pain management," Monroe said.

McMahon, who was diagnosed with the early onset of dementia and other issues that have been linked to the kinds of concussions he suffered over the years, said marijuana has helped him cope with the pain.

"There's so many uses to this plant," McMahon said. "Hundreds of thousands of people are dying from [painkillers], and there's not one case of people dying from the hemp plant."