In the NFL, injuries are a natural occurrence that happens to players throughout the whole season, from the preseason to the end of the playoffs, NFL players have a wide variety of injuries that can happen to them throughout the season. When a player becomes injured, a team doctor will prescribe the injured player with painkillers, and every season, NFL doctors will prescribe thousands of doses of prescription pills to NFL players, knowing fully that many of these painkillers come with many negative side effects that may eventually end up hurting a player’s body more than it helps. The NFL prohibits its players from using any safer alternative to pain pills that has far less negative side effects on the human body. This safer alternative is medical marijuana. Medical marijuana has started to become more recognized in the medical community over the past few decades as medical professionals have started to see the medical benefits to this plant. Although medical marijuana is not a traditional medicine, it has more uses compared to a pill that is prescribed to treat only a certain ailment. After a player gets injured, they are given prescription painkillers to help them recover, but players run the risk of forming a chemical dependence on the pills they were prescribed. In the NFL, players should be allowed to use medical marijuana to treat injuries because it is a natural and safer alternative compared to prescription painkillers that the NFL will give to any player that are injured.

In the NFL, the drug policy lays out what players aren’t allowed to put in their bodies. These can include other street drugs, supplements and performance enhancing drugs, like steroids, that can give a player an unfair physical advantage over other players. Written into the NFL drug policy, an offense can result in a player being suspended for playing in multiple games and results in players losing money as they will not be paid for games that they miss due to not being able to play. In the policy players that use marijuana to self-medicate will still face the same penalty as players that are using performance enhancing drugs or hard street drugs like cocaine or heroin. Every player in the NFL will be drug tested “between April 20 and Aug. 9. Pass the test, and a player is good until next year” (Brady). Even though every player is tested during this time, some players will be tested throughout the season, but these tests are usually to see if players are using performance enhancing drugs. The NFL has recently undated their drug policy for players who will be tested for marijuana use. The NFL has “increased the permitted threshold from 15 nanograms of carboxy THC per milliliter of urine to 35 nanograms” (Brady). Compared to other major sports organizations, the NFL is one of the strictest in when it comes to marijuana use with its athletes. With the increased threshold, the NFL is starting to become less strict on how much THC is in the body, but the NFL is still one of the strictest sporting organization compared to other major sports organizations. In Major League Baseball, they use a threshold of 50 nanograms, while the World Anti-Doping Agency, who tests Olympic athletes, use a threshold of 150 nanograms (Brady). The problem with using a low threshold is that if players are around people that are using marijuana and they breath it in, they can still have a possibility of being suspended because of the low threshold.  Players who violate the NFL policy will have first be suspended, and then they are placed in a intervention program and will be drug tested frequently to see if those players are still using (Brady). The first time a player violates this policy, they will be suspended for four games, then if they violate the policy again, they will be suspended 10 games, then if they violate the policy a third time, the player will be suspended indefinitely and will have to apply to be reinstated after a whole NFL season. 

Over the past few years in the NFL, the most prominent case about marijuana use is the Cleveland Brown’s wide receiver, Josh Gordon. Over his five year career Josh Gordon has been suspended multiple times for failing drug tests because of marijuana use. Gordon has been suspended from the NFL since 2013 and was reinstated in 2016. During the time while Gordon was suspended, one of the most infamous cases in the NFL occurred. In 2014, Ray Rice was seen on a surveillance camera hitting his finance and knocking her unconscious in an elevator of a casino. As news broke of the story, the NFL suspended Ray Rice only two games for violating the NFL personal conduct policy (Bellware). When the suspension was handed out, many people reacted to this negatively. Many people were outraged that a player could be suspended twice as long for using marijuana compared to domestic violence. I think that the NFL handing down a two game suspension for a player who knocked out his wife showed to the world how bad their discipline system is for player. When I saw the news about the two game suspension, I was outraged that such a serious crime didn’t matter as much as a player who uses marijuana as an alternative medicine. 

In the NFL, when a player is injured, team doctors are allowed to prescribe players prescription pills for the sole cause of being able to play through an injury. During the 2012 NFL season, an average NFL team “prescribed nearly 5,777 doses of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and 2,213 doses of controlled medications to its players” according an NFL-employed medical advisor (Maese). With those numbers, that equals to about “six to seven painkillers or injections per player over the typical NFL season” (Maese). By NFL doctors handing out pain pills to players, players run the risk of developing a chemical dependence to the pills if they are taking them for a significant amount of time. Also, with players taking a significant amount of pills over the course of a season, they risk hurting their own body. When injuries occur, players are usually prescribed the pain pill, Vicodin, and before games players are even being injected with powerful anti-inflammatory Toradol (Maese). A problem with taking painkillers before a game  can occur is that a player may not be able to feel the injury worsen or have another injury happen and not be able to feel it.  Vicodin is a powerful opiate that is used to help relieve and mask pain, but it is also highly addictive. In 2011, Linda Cotter, a founding chair at the University of Florida’s college of Public Health lead a survey of 644 retired NFL players (Maese). Cottler found that out of the 644 players, “ more than half the respondents said they used opioids during their NFL careers”, while “seven out of ten have admitted to misusing the drugs” (Maese). Also, Cotter found that 22 percent said they took six to seven pills a day, while seven percent say they are actively using opioids in their retirement (Maese). In a larger study of a population, it found that 9% of people that have used marijuana have become dependent on it, while 23% of people that have used opiates have become dependent (Benson, Joy, et al.). With the drastic difference between these two statistics, the NFL should being caring more about a player’s health and safety instead of focusing not noticing how opiates affect a player’s body. Between both of these studies, it is proven that marijuana is far less addictive compared to opiates, and the NFL should start to worry about what might happen to players once they’re out of the league, compared to only when they’re in the league. nAs seen in this in this study, the effects of opiate abuse from prescription painkillers are still seen even after retirement because players can’t break their addictions. With these players continuing to abuse opiates, they are creating irreversible damage, but if they were allowed to use marijuana, the amount of players that would have a chemical dependence would be much lower.

In today’s culture, many people see there are many negative stereotypes about people who use marijuana. If medical marijuana was allowed in the NFL, many people would see the players as “stoners”, which would give the NFL a bad image. One of those assumptions that people say about allowing players to use medical marijuana is that players would only use marijuana to get high. While this claim may be used as a reason for why the NFL shouldn’t allow players to use medical marijuana, there are ways to get the benefits of marijuana without getting high. One alternative is for a player to use CBDs, which is a cannabinoid that can come in a crystal form or it can come in a juice that can be used in a vaporizer. A CBD will not get a person high because it is high in cannabinoids and has very low, or no THC in it. THC is found naturally is marijuana and is the only cannabinoid that gives a user a “high”, so people who use CBDs can still get all of the medical benefits but not get a “high”. CBDs can also be better for a player, than smoking the bud of the plant, because CBDs have more medical properties for people that have chronic pain and stress. The lack of THC in a CBD is the only main difference from using the bud of the plant because the CBD gives the same benefits, but it won’t produce a high for the user. Another assumption that a person could make is that people who smoke marijuana will have a bad effect on the person’s health. Although smoking marijuana is a popular way of using it, there alternatives ways to use marijuana. Some alternative ways of using marijuana are is by using a “vaporizing device, marijuana oils, tinctures, or extracts into food or drinks, or adding them to topical ointments” (Martin, Carter, et al.). Vaporizing marijuana is one of the best ways for a person concerned about inhaling smoke because a vaporizer heats up the marijuana to activate the ingredients in marijuana, without burning the plant matter (Davis, Maida, et al.) Also, in a recent study that was just done, researchers found that smoking marijuana has no link to producing lung cancer (Mellar, et al.) From the recent study to the different types of ways to use marijuana, people can see that marijuana is much safer and versatile compare to a painkiller that can have many side effects with only one use for it. 

Compared to prescription pills, medical marijuana is a much safer alternative when it comes to a players’ health. This is because a prescription pill is meant to only treat one issue, while medical marijuana has many different uses. One example of one of marijuana’s many uses is that marijuana can be used as a way to treat pain that a player will experience throughout a season. Medical marijuana has encouraging clinical data on people who have chronic and acute pain. In a study, researchers found that 5-20mg of THC created an analgesia effect on the body (Benson, Joy, et al.). This happens because “CB1 induces a decrease in the nerve growth factor”, which helps decrease the amount of pain that people will feel (Mellar, et al.) CB1 and CB2 are protein grouped receptors found in the central nervous system and are activated cannabinoids found in marijuana. (Mellar, et al). The main reason why marijuana is good for a person to use for pain is because there hasn’t been a recorded death of a person overdosing on marijuana. There hasn’t been a recorded death, because a person would need to take a massive amount of THC before it is fatal. From reducing pain, medical marijuana can also be used by players dealing with inflammation. Marijuana has properties in it that interact with the CB2 receptors in the brain that help to reduce the inflammation in the body (Mellar, et al.). Another positive effect that medical marijuana can have for NFL players is that it can help players reduce the amount of stress they have. Medical marijuana has a natural calming and tranquilizing effect on the people that use it (Mellar, et al.). As seen through the benefits, medical marijuana can help players who have a wide spectrum of aliments, whether its chronic pain, stress, or inflammation, marijuana can do it all to help players become healthy again.

In the NFL, one of the biggest advocates for medical marijuana is Ricky Williams. He was a running back for the Miami Dolphins and the New Orleans Saints during his twelve-year career. During his career, he was suspended twice for using marijuana to self-medicate before he retired from the NFL. While playing in the NFL, Ricky Williams started to use marijuana to help with the injury he sustained during a game (Sports Illustrated). Ricky is an advocate for medical marijuana because it is a safer alternative to opiates. This is the case because opiates are addictive and can be abused by NFL players. 

Over the past season of the football, the NFL came under fire for suspending a player for using medical marijuana for a legitimate reason. Buffalo Bills offensive lineman Seantrel Henderson has to uses medical marijuana to help treat his Crohn’s disease and in November of 2016, Henderson was suspended for 10 games because this was the second time he has tested positive for marijuana use. He was suspended at the beginning of the 2016 season and was suspended again at the end of the season. Henderson was caught using marijuana in college, but stopped using recreationally since entering the NFL (Davis). Henderson began using marijuana again, but he is using it for medical reasons. After being diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, his doctor recommended that he use marijuana to help with his illness. Marijuana is usually recommend to help treat Crohn’s disease, because Crohn’s disease does not have any other type of medicine to help treat it.  In January of 2016, Henderson had to have over two feet of his intestines removed because it had become infected (Davis). After his surgery, he had lost a lot of weight, and he lost his appetite. Because he used medical marijuana, he was able to regain 50 pounds of weight because the THC in the marijuana helped him gain his appetite back. Also, it helped with the pain from his surgery because Henderson had to have a second surgery in April to reconfigure his intestines (Davis). Although Seantral Henderson did have a history of marijuana use in college, he is being targeted by the NFL for his marijuana use because the league does not allow marijuana use for any reason, no matter the circumstances. After reading this article, I’m disappointed that the NFL wouldn’t make an acceptation to a NFL player that is in constant pain and unable to use any other medicine because his stomach is to weak to handle it.

In the NFL, Rodger Goodell needs to start allowing players to use medical marijuana. I’m advocating this because the NFL needs to start to focus more on the health of the players because they are sacrificing their bodies so the NFL can make billions each year. I want the NFLPA to bring up using medical marijuana with the NFL executives at the next collective bargaining agreement meeting. At the collective bargaining agreement, the NFLPA needs to bring in doctors and statistics about medical marijuana to try and persuade the NFL executives to allow players to use medical marijuana as an alternative to painkillers. I say this because opiate painkillers that team doctors and coaches give to players end up doing more harm than good in the long run. The heart of the matter is about giving all of the players the opportunity to live a healthy life during, and after their career in the NFL without having players at risk for having a chemical addiction to opiates. This is not just a message to NFL executives, but to coaches and team doctors to know that they are responsible for keeping the players healthy and safe. I want the NFL to stop worrying so much about profits and start to worry about their own players’ health because that should be the number one priority for the NFL in general.
