NFL Proves Loyalty to Big Pharma, Forces Players to Use Opioids Instead of Cannabis
By Rachel Blevins
When a professional football player requested to use medicinal cannabis to treat his chronic pain, the National Football League responded by denying his request, proving that it would rather force its players to use highly addictive opioid painkillers instead of a natural plant.
The player who raised the issue is Mike James, 27, a free agent running back who has struggled with chronic pain throughout his career. His first injury came after he was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2013, and he broke his ankle and had to have surgery.
He told CNN that he found himself becoming dependent on the opioid painkillers he was prescribed for recovery.
“The routine I had was, my wife would give me some pills and I would try to sneak and get extra, get more,” James said. “When those ran out, I’d try to search as much as I could to get more—mostly asking around, trying to get it as fast as possible from people that I knew that had it.”
James said he had always been wary of drug addiction after he saw the crippling effects it had on family members.
“Drugs tore up my family,” he said, noting that he was terrified by the knowledge that his actions could hurt his two young sons and “the notion that I would do what my father did to me, to my boys.”
When James’ wife, Aubrey James, proposed the idea of using cannabis to treat his chronic pain, he said he was immediately against it because he saw marijuana as one of the dangerous drugs he needed to stay away from—unlike the medications prescribed by doctors that created his addiction in the first place.
Mike James eventually tried cannabis in 2014, and he told CNN that he was amazed by the impact it had, both in treating his pain and in relieving his dependence on opioids. “I never had something where I could be coherent and still have pain relief,” he said. James has continued to use cannabis to treat his pain, but because it is considered an “illegal substance” by the NFL, his choice to use a natural plant instead of pills manufactured by the pharmaceutical industry has put his career in jeopardy.
In an attempt to work with the NFL and to set a precedent for other players, James became the first player to file for a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) for cannabis last month.
The league denied his application this week, serving as a reminder that it is also denying a natural treatment to players who struggle with chronic pain.
“By them denying me a TUE, they’re really giving me no other options to continue playing football,” James said, noting that the future of his career could be in jeopardy. “To be able to play this violent game and deal with my chronic pain, I need an option for that.”
James also told NJ.com that he believes in the cause enough to push back “against the establishment” in an effort to secure change for his fellow players.
“I know right now I’m doing something that makes some people uncomfortable, and that I’m going against the establishment to push for a change in the way they look at this medicine,” James said.
“I know there’s a greater purpose here for a lot of guys in this league who I consider family members.”
More than 1,800 players came together to file a massive lawsuit against the NFL’s 32 teams in 2015, alleging that doctors and trainers supplied players with powerful narcotics like candy and failed to inform them of “the long-term health effects of taking controlled substances and prescription medications in the amounts given to them.”
The lawsuit claimed that the teams focused on the goal of maintaining “the return to play practice or policy by ensuring that players are not told of the health risks associated with taking medications.” As a result, the 53 players on each team were prescribed around 5,777 doses of anti-inflammatories and 2,270 doses of narcotics, which led to each player receiving an average of 150 doses of drugs each year.
The NFL released a report in July 2017, claiming that it was willing to study the use of medical cannabis for pain management. However, the results of that decision remain to be seen and it appears that the NFL is still choosing to stay loyal to Big Pharma—at the expense of its players—threatening players who refuse highly addictive opioids with arrest and expulsion, instead of allowing natural treatments that could vastly improve the players’ lives, while treating their pain.
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It doesn't seem all that surprising to me. Despite the popular sentiment in the country cannabis remains illegal while the opioid prescriptions are not. Not sure it really has anything to do with big pharma, every player in the league deals with pain and if they allowed this exception then any player who wanted to would file for this.
So long as cannabis remains illegal federally the league (and many large companies) wont support it. The NFL has never been on the forefront of social issues and I don't expect them to be on this one.
Do I personally think the players should be allowed to treat their pain however they want? Sure, whatever floats your boat. Pretty much my view on all drugs actually but the NFL is a business like any other and they can set whatever rules they want. If you want to play in their league you have to abide by their rules, same as any other job.
Unfortunately, you lose a lot of those logical reasoning powers when u spend your childhood being smashed in the head repeatedly & praised for it. There are very few who can see the writing on the wall & get out
True, although going from this point forward I don't think there will be anyone unaware of the risks. The kids who play high level college/pro's will go into it with their eyes open and weigh the risks with the potential gains.
I coached my old hi school team a couple seasons ago. Coaches are still lying to their players telling them it’s safe & to sacrifice themselves for the team. The kids are less gung ho then they used to be, but they are still teenagers with hi testosterone being easily manipulated by an intelligent system. They are given weapons on their head (helmets) & taught to use them. They see the glory on tv & the praise from the legions of ignorant fans. More than anything all levels of football incorporate a lot of motivational speeches given to kids after emotional & physical trauma (practice) daily. 3 or 4 times a day during pre season camp. Kids don’t see what we understand, neither do there less intelligent parents. They listen to the authority figures telling them they made a couple changes & it’s safe. Football players often come from poor backgrounds.
The truth in my view is anyone who watches or supports any level of football in any way is guilty of supporting to & contributing resources to a highly organized system of abusers guilty of committing mass brain damage & cover up for profit. Football is for cuckolds, slavemasters & slaves from my very educated (on this topic) perspective
@ceattlestretch I totally agree! Football seems to me to be the modern day gladiators, and a major opiate of the masses. The superbowl is one of the sickest celebrations in America imo, glorifying violence & greed for what - a day of 'entertainment'?
Thank you for saying that. One need but look at the products sold in the commercials during the super bowl to agree with you. They all make u fat, drunk, medicated or in debt. I’m going to get a big CTE t-shirt made up to look like a nfl logo for next year. High school football team reunion, I’m gonna have some words for an old coach or two 🤫
I would bet that it has everything to do with big pharma!
By the time these poor abused players are in the nfl, they have endured severe physical & mental trauma, brain damage & indoctrination from an early age. Cannabis is feared by the business of football because it breaks the mk ultra style programming forced into players minds by their brain damaged coaches & corrupt media & school system.
I was a very talented college football player who quit playing early in college, thanks in large part to abusing marijuana & the perspective it gave me to respect my body. Almost 2 decades later & am confident that was one of the best decisions I ever made. Now I tell anyone who will listen why they should not watch that garbage & especially do not put your kids safety in the hands of old white corrupt men profiting off child brain damage.
Fuck football
Pretty disgusting, but doesn't come as much of a surprise. Hopefully the NFL is not spilling crap about "willing to study" the use of medical marijuana, but seems like a PR type of report for now, really.
Unbelievable! But sadly not surprising at all. They don't care about anything but the profits, and highly addictive opioids are far more profitable than the physically non-addictive marijuana. Apparently the NFL is just as much a part of this evil system as the government & pharmaceutical companies. The NFL plays another part, helping to keep the minds of the masses enslaved, as football games seem to be one of the major opiates of the masses. So sad people are so addicted to professional sports which pay their players millions while the homeless are starving and our leaders are waging nonsense wars. Will the madness ever end?
NFL once again doing anything they can to hasten their decline, it's like Goodell wants to always do the wrong thing. The CTE and so many other sports being available and America hating players was not enough I guess. Big pharma has so much control of our government and media and apparently the NFL (they are a huge advertiser) and legal cannabis is a huge threat to their bottom line. Legal cannabis is already costing them billions of dollars.
Weird job if your boss can force you to take drugs that you don't want to take?!?!?1