Marijuana Research

Pain is a constant in the game of football, and the National Football League has long relied on painkillers to keep its players on the field. This has made NFL locker rooms especially vulnerable to the opioid epidemic.

Former NFL players abuse opioid pain medications at four times the rate of the general population, according to a study by researchers at Washington University in St. Louis. In recent years, the NFL has been the subject of Drug Enforcement Administration investigations and multiple lawsuits alleging that the league recklessly administered painkillers to its players.

On top of opioid addiction, the NFL is facing mounting evidence that chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, the degenerative brain disease linked to repeated head injuries, is a near certain consequence of playing professional football. In a study released last month, CTE was found in 110 out of 111 former NFL players’ brains. The Baltimore Ravens offensive lineman John Urschel cited the study when, two days after it came out, he announced his retirement from the NFL at the age of 26.

These two crises are why, two weeks ago, the NFL reportedly contacted the NFL Players Assn. and offered to work with the players’ union to study the potential use of marijuana for pain.

While it’s commendable that the NFL is finally seeking an alternative treatment for pain — one that, some early studies suggest, may also help to protect the brain from injury — the truth is that NFL players have been proving the viability of cannabis as a pain medicine for decades.

I played professional football for six years, from 2002 to 2009 — mostly for the Denver Broncos, but also for the San Francisco 49ers, the Cleveland Browns and the Las Vegas Locomotives. Consuming cannabis was and remains a common practice throughout the NFL, accepted by the teams but rejected in New York and D.C., where the league is run.

Until I made it to the pros, I didn’t take opioids. By then I had endured thousands of practices and scores of games and scrimmages — all of them painful, but not so painful that medication was required. I wanted to feel the pain — that’s part of why I played football. And besides, if you don’t feel the pain from an injury, you don’t know when it’s gone and you can’t really heal.

I didn’t ask for opioids in the NFL, but every time I went to the training room to treat an injury — even an injury that didn’t require missed playing time — I was given them anyway, in addition to anti-inflammatory medication such as Vioxx and Celebrex. Pain pills were as common as shoulder pads and cleats. In fact, if I didn’t take the meds prescribed to me, I worried I would not make the team. I wanted to make the team, so I took the pills. For the first few years, at least.

NFL running back Mike James calls it his medicine for pain management, but league officials call it a banned substance. Now, James' athletic career is hanging in limbo because he chose pot over pills.

In 2013, James was prescribed opioid painkillers after injuring his left ankle in a Monday night football game. Within weeks, he developed a dangerous dependency on the drugs.
To get off of the opioids, he turned to medical marijuana for his pain.

Suddenly, "my pain subsided," James told CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta in an exclusive interview in the documentary "Weed 4: Pot vs. Pills," which aired Sunday night.
"I never had something where I could be coherent and still have pain relief," he said.

As it stands, the NFL and NFL Players Association prohibit active players from using marijuana as part of the league's policy on substance abuse.

The only way around the policy is if a player has what's called a therapeutic use exemption indicating that the athlete requires the substance to treat a diagnosed medical problem.
James made history last month as the first player to file for a therapeutic use exemption specifically for cannabis. On Thursday, he received a letter from the NFL, denying his exemption application. He vowed not to give up.

"My career is at great risk," said James, who is a free agent after being released by the Detroit Lions.