Former Flyers brawler Riley Cote is now a hemp activist. So much so that his organization hosted the Hemp Heals Festival featuring Slightly Stoopid, Stephen Marley and G. Love & Special Sauce on Aug. 2 at Penn's Landing Festival Pier in Philadelphia. It was all part of Stoopid's Summer Session tour.
In addition to the music, there were speeches by Cote, Chris Goldstein, N.A. Poe, Les Stark and CelebStoner's Steve Bloom, and a number of vendors selling hemp products, such as Hempzels and Good Seed Burgers.
"I'm a meathead and I figured this out," Cote told Poe for Scrapple TV at his Hemp Heals event.
Cote tells Goldstein that Hemp Heals Foundation "is about much more than just hemp. It's supporting sustainable farming and sustainable health. The cannabis plant represents health in many forms. It's a healing plant, a nontoxic, sustainable industry that could be a safe alternative for virtually all things we do in the current world we live in. As an extremely health-conscious person, I've realized the power and potential of this plant and want nothing more than to educate people on its positive impact it has on not only the human body but all living things, the air we breathe and the ground we walk on. A perfect crop that grows in virtually all climates."
Cote retired when he was 28 after having 51 NHL fights and scoring just one goal during three seasons with the Flyers.
“I thought I was in good shape," he says. "I thought I was doing the right things. But I wasn’t eating properly. I abused my body in other ways and paid the price for it. I’m a big believer in simple living, back to basics and filling your body with real food. Natural foods.”
When he's not promoting hemp, Cote is an assistant coach with the AHL's Adirondack Phantoms.
