Mike Tyson Says His Family Begged Him to Smoke Weed Again After Five Days Sober
Mike Tyson says going five days without weed turned him into such an intense version of himself that his own family urged him to start smoking again.
The former heavyweight champion—who has become one of the biggest celebrity figures in the cannabis world—opened up about the experience during a recent appearance on the Confidence of Champions podcast.
Tyson has used cannabis for most of his life, but in recent years, he’s turned that personal habit into a full-blown business empire. His brand, Tyson 2.0, launched in 2021, and by 2023 it had expanded overseas, opening its own coffeeshop in Amsterdam.
He’s also been transparent about just how much he consumes, once saying on Hotboxin’ With Mike Tyson that he goes through around $40,000 worth of cannabis per month.
According to Tyson, weed has a grounding, calming effect on him. Without it, the 59-year-old says he becomes a different person entirely.
“My wife and kids got scared.”
Speaking to hosts Billy White and actor Peter Lee Thomas, Tyson said he stopped smoking for just five days—and immediately noticed a shift.
So did everyone around him.
“My wife and my kids got scared. ‘Please smoke, daddy.’ Not that I did anything—I was just too intense not high.”
Tyson joked that people would look at him differently when he wasn’t stoned:
“People walking by me just looking, ‘Wow.’ It’s just a whole different person.”
Why weed works for him
Tyson compared his cannabis use to his past drinking habits, saying alcohol always brought out a reckless side of him, while weed mellowed him out.
“I was drinking, I didn’t smoke weed… I should have smoked weed, because I was always crazy. That’s why I was knocking everybody out.”
He argued that society still treats cannabis as more taboo than alcohol—even though, in his view, the reverse should be true.
Thomas agreed, suggesting weed should be more socially acceptable than alcohol. Tyson backed that up with a classic Tysonism:
“You get a bunch of gang members and a bunch of liquor—they’ll kill each other.
You get some weed, they start taking selfies. That was the peace pipe.”
Tyson’s temporary break before the Jake Paul fight
Tyson also previously stopped smoking in the buildup to his exhibition fight against Jake Paul in November, telling reporters he was living “disciplined” at the time.
Ahead of the bout, he said he had gone six weeks without cannabis or sex:
“I hate not being able to smoke, but I’m doing it like I love it.”
On becoming the face of cannabis
Despite building one of the most recognizable cannabis brands on the planet, Tyson still laughs about how unlikely the whole thing is.
“Why am I the face of cannabis and psychedelics? Why me? I can’t even spell cannabis and psychedelics.”
Whether intentional or not, Tyson has become one of the most influential voices in the cannabis space — and if his family has anything to say about it, he’ll be sticking with the plant for the long haul.
