There's not many times an athlete can suggest that drugs in sport should be legal however Baltimore Ravens' lineman Eugene Monroe makes a compelling case for the use of marijuana as pain relief in the NFL. Should the organisation listen?
Marijuana is on the banned substance list for every American sport apart from in the NHL and there are increasing voices asking for the drug to be taken off the list in American Football and allow players to use medical marijuana for pain relief rather than using opioids that players have known to become addicted to.
The NFL and the NFLPA, the players association, have an agreement on what is on the banned list and what isn't and would both have to make the decision to take it off the list and so far there's no inkling that the two are willing to change the policy right now.
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Speaking to Yahoo news Monroe said "What I noticed was that former players would openly speak about their experiences being addicted to opioids that they were prescribed by their team doctors."
And former player Kyle Turley backed up Monroe's thoughts saying that the drug had saved his life and stopped his suicidal thoughts in his retirement:
According to SB Nation, via the Washington Post, the league are starting to at least listen to the research being done as part of Munroe's funding into the connection between head injuries and CTE and whether medical marijuana or any of its chemical components has a positive effect on it.
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Munroe wrote an essay called "Getting off the T Train" which approaches the subject of players lining up for an injection of the pain killer Toradol before a match and talked about the pain he's been through in his career writing "Football is pain. There's no way around it, and by no means am I complaining; it's the sport I love." Whilst he isn't complaining about the pain he'd just like a better way of dealing with it.
One problem for the NFL if it did decide to drop the drug from the banned list is the legalisation of the drug throughout the country, whilst most teams would be fine it is still illegal in one form or another for some teams. Green Bay Packers, Indianapolis Colts, Jacksonville Jaguars, Tennessee Titans, Miami Dolphins and Kansas City Chiefs would all fall foul of their state laws.
Linebacker Derrick Morgan also called on the NFL to do more research into the drug.
Perhaps Munroe's best argument in his essay comes in this paragraph, "I'm not here advocating for NFL players [or anyone] to get high and party while breaking the law. What I'm talking about is the responsibility of the NFL to care for its players. Nineteen players were suspended last season for testing positive for 'substances of abuse,' and for some, their careers may be over. Why? For using something that can actually help people?"
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It's a very interesting argument and one that certainly requires further research and discussion. Sometimes in sport the issue of drugs isn't so black and white.
Do you think the NFL should make marijuana legal?
(h.t ESPN)
Topics: American Football, NFL