Mike Tyson Says He Used Fentanyl 'Quite A Few Times' During Boxing Career

Mike Tyson took a bunch of beatings over the course of his legendary career ... and while these days he advocates for the use of marijuana to deal with pain -- he admitted at one point in his life, he relied on fentanyl.

Tyson opened up on using the dangerous drug during a discussion on the "Katie Miller Podcast." At one point, he was asked about how he balances his advocacy for weed and being a role model ... and he responded with a simple, "I am who I am."

"If I was a role model and an alcoholic and drank liquor, would I want them to do that? No, I wouldn't want them to do that. I just think from my perspective, using cannabis, that's safer than using alcohol, cocaine or anything from that perspective, or fentanyl."

As Tyson's business partner began speaking ... the 59-year-old interrupted and made the admission about his use of the Schedule II drug.

"I've done fentanyl before," he said. "In the late '90s, when it first came here, it was a painkiller, and I used to use it to patch up my toe. It was like heroin, once it wears off and you take the Band-Aid off, you start withdrawing, throwing up, just like if you were on heroin or something."

He said he did it "quite a few times" ... but had no idea it would get him busted by boxing commissions during drug tests.

Had it not been illegal, Tyson said he would have continued to use it.

The synthetic opioid killed an estimated 48,422 people in the United States back in 2024, according to the CDC. In 2023 ... that number was 76,282.