Reinstated to the NFL, Josh Gordon hopes to stay clean this time
While he was busy putting up exceptionally high numbers on the field, it turns out that Josh Gordon was also high.
In a recent GQ interview, the Cleveland Browns WR described his struggles with addiction, explaining how he started doing drugs as a young kid – “Initially it started for me, [because of] a lot of childhood and adolescent trauma-based fear. I was using in my childhood. That environment brought me into that a lot sooner than a normal—whatever normal is—kid should be brought into that, to be able to make a decision on their own of what to do. I didn’t want to feel anxiety, I didn’t want to feel fear. I didn’t plan on living to 18. Day-to-day life, what’s gonna happen next? So you self-medicate with Xanax, with marijuana, codeine—to help numb those nerves so you can just function every day. That became the norm from middle school to high school. So by the time I got into my 20s, I was on an accelerated pace.”
Now, as the Browns prepare to welcome him back to their facility on Tuesday, Coach Hue Jackson said Gordon’s disclosure about being high before every game won’t change the team’s decision to accept him back.
“I think he was letting things out if that is what was said,” said Jackson, who coached Gordon before the 26-year-old checked himself into rehab in 2016. “I think he was cleansing himself of his past, and I get that a little bit, but again, I think he said what he felt he needed to say.”
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To read more about Josh Gordon’s struggle with addiction, visit GQ.com.