Hope CBD Stadium: Scottish Soccer club Hamilton Academical FC has struck up a controversial new stadium-naming deal with none other than a cannabis oil company called Hope CBD.
Moving forward in the new soccer season, the club's current New Douglas Park will be renamed as the Hope CBD Stadium.
Hope CBD Stadium: Sponsorship Deal
The sponsorship deal may be a necessary move for the club who lost close to £1m in a bank scam and also lost its deal with current stadium sponsor SuperSeal.
Hope CBD sells a range of legal products which contain cannabidiol (CBD), a non-psychoactive component of the cannabis plant. It markets its products as "food supplements" that can't cure or treat disease.
Controversial
However, supporters of CBD claim it has the potential to ease symptoms associated with chronic pain and seizures, but as with all drugs, there are critics and, in this case, those critics believe that naming the soccer stadium after a cannabis product is sending out the wrong signal.
An example being the director of the Centre of Substance Use Research in Glasgow, Professor Neil McKeganey, who considers the renaming of New Douglas Park as a "regrettable step".
He said:
"In the public mindset, it will be seen as a form of cannabis advertising...It's surprising that any football club wants to align itself with the cannabis plant...even though CBD is not the bit that gets you high...it's part and parcel of cannabis becoming much more socially accepted. It is a way of normalising it."
Time to Accept Defeat Critics!
The UK has only this week allowed medical cannabis under prescription to be brought in come October and further, The World Health Organisation guidance on CBD states that there is some evidence the substance "could have some therapeutic value for seizures due to epilepsy and other conditions".
>>Ontario Will Allow Private Retailers to Sell Cannabis
The world is easing towards medical cannabis with its legalization across many US states and Canada, and furthermore, countries in Europe like Malta are adopting medical cannabis with open arms.
What do you think? Is it really distasteful for a soccer club to name its stadium after a cannabis company?
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