Ricky Williams Talks about Medical Marijuana and Football, and Possible CFL Boon

[jerrym]

Former Argo Ricky Williams has spoken out on the use of medical marijuana in football and its possible impact on the CFL.



Marijuana got Ricky Williams into the CFL, and he believes it might be crucial to saving all of football. The NFL is facing a lawsuit alleging its teams "intentionally disregarded players' health by providing painkillers (http://www.latimes.com/sports/sportsnow/la-sp-sn-former-nfl-players-lawsuit-painkillers-20150521-story.html)," which (along with the ongoing concussion crisis in both the CFL (https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/cfl-55-yard-line/concussion-litigation-and-struggling-alumni--the-elephant-in-the-grey-cup-room-200222424.html) and NFL (http://thecomeback.com/blog/nfl/at-27-tyler-sash-had-the-same-level-of-cte-found-in-junior-seaus-brain.html)) has many worried about the future of football. Williams, who played for the CFL's Toronto Argonauts as well as the NFL's New Orleans Saints, Miami Dolphins and Baltimore Ravens, credits marijuana for preserving his health during his football career (even if one of the suspensions he got over it forced him to come to Canada (https://espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2461281) for a stint that was more successful than many realize (http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/cfl-55-yard-line/run-ricky-run-why-ricky-williams-time-toronto-234609988.html)). Other players in the CFL and NFL are following his lead, and marijuana may be important for helping them avoid painkiller addiction as well.
Since Williams' playing career ended, he's served as a college coach (https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/cfl-55-yard-line/ex-argo-ricky-williams-bringing-deep-thoughts-approach-161457645.html) and as a Longhorn Network analyst (http://espnmediazone.com/us/bios/ricky-williams/). He spoke about the benefits of medical marijuana (http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/ricky-williams-believes-marijuana-can-help-save-the-nfl-155148524.html?soc_src=mail&soc_trk=ma) at the High Times SoCal Medical Cannabis Cup (https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/cfl-55-yard-line/www.cannabiscup.com/socal/#info) this week, on a panel titled "How Cannabis Will Save The NFL." However, while the NFL's still trying to prohibit medical marijuana, there's a test case north of the border; the CFL's lack of testing for marijuana means players are already exploring it instead of conventional painkillers. Here's what Williams had to say on the panel about the benefits of marijuana over painkillers:...
“When you compare it to what the alternative is in their training rooms; pills, pills, pills, that are being put into these guys’ hands and turning them into addicts. I was never big on those pills. I medicated with marijuana and it helped me and I think it helped save my brain.” ...
The idea that marijuana may be more effective than painkillers in treating football players is not limited just to Williams. Patrick Hruby has written several (http://www.sportsonearth.com/article/45209696) good (http://www.sportsonearth.com/article/63585718/florida-atlantic-university-football-coach-carl-pelini-michael-phelps-marijuana-warren-sapp-ricky-williams) pieces (http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/09/the-nfl-embraces-marijuana-finally/380246/) on medical marijuana's usage among athletes for Sports on Earth and The Atlantic, and the NFL has considered softening its policies (http://www.si.com/nfl/audibles/2014/01/23/roger-goodell-medical-marijuana-concussions). ...


What does this all mean for the CFL? Well, the league has long had players who have used marijuana (http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/cannabis-and-the-cfl-211664501.html), and it's not tested for under the CFL's drug policy (which focuses on performance-enhancing drugs, and isn't actually conducting tests at all at the moment (https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/cfl-55-yard-line/what-jeffery-orridge-is-made-of--cfl-commissioner-talks-tv--drug-testing--more-181202731.html)thanks to lab refusals (https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/cfl-55-yard-line/wada-calls-cfl-drug-policy--irresponsible---but-ignores-ncaa-to-nfl-comparison-002730467.html)). Players who do get caught with marijuana by police (in areas where possession is still illegal) have faced some consequences, including being cut (https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/cfl-55-yard-line/bombers-cut-jonathan-hefney-delayed-discipline-marijuana-possession-224514567.html)(which was silly (https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/cfl-55-yard-line/outrage-over-jonathan-hefney-marijuana-charge-tempest-teapot-210636509.html)), but the CFL's far from hardline on marijuana despite the calls of some prohibitionists. (https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/cfl-55-yard-line/annunziata-blind-black-blue-eye-blue-bombers-205620246.html)If Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau's plan to legalize recreational marijuana nationally (http://time.com/4115711/marijuana-legalization-justin-trudeau/)comes through, there will be even less potential consequences for CFL players who want to use it.
At the moment, though, the CFL players who want to use marijuana for pain management can largely do so, provided they don't get into legal trouble obtaining or using it. That seems much smarter than the NFL's continued testing for it, especially considering the problems we've seen with conventional painkillers and the scientific studies and testimonies from players that suggest marijuana is a better alternative.



https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/cfl-55-yard-line/former-argo-ricky-williams-speaks-on-medical-marijuana--a-possible-cfl-boon-184723844.html

[1argoholic]

Just as long as they do the pot after and not before games.haha
I know that marijuana (THC) has come so far and is available in many forms to treat everything. Gone are the days of cheap weed filled joints with popping seeds that got you marginally high. It comes in many forms and from what I understand can be used in creams etc that don't give you the stoned effects. Just don't try the cookies.

[AngeloV]

Williams is bang on.

To me, it's so obvious that the pharmaceutical companies pay governments big bucks in order to keep pot illegal so that they can push their poisonous pills. I find that to be more criminal than any pot smoking (or eating).

Thanks for posting Jerry!!

[Rich]

If and when the government legalizes cannabis, the CFL should immediately adopt a cannabis regimen as a pharmaceutical replacement. It would be perfectly legit, and it would definitely attract players who otherwise wouldn't be interested in coming up here.

As for Ricky, there's still a lot of people who claim that his season here was a bust, but they should read the link in jerry's post to an Andrew Bucholtz article that shows the Williams acquisition was a pretty good move all around. If Ricky hadn't gotten hurt he might have had a big season here.

[AngeloV]

If and when the government legalizes cannabis, the CFL should immediately adopt a cannabis regimen as a pharmaceutical replacement. It would be perfectly legit, and it would definitely attract players who otherwise wouldn't be interested in coming up here.

As for Ricky, there's still a lot of people who claim that his season here was a bust, but they should read the link in jerry's post to an Andrew Bucholtz article that shows the Williams acquisition was a pretty good move all around. If Ricky hadn't gotten hurt he might have had a big season here.

Rich, I find myself in the unusual position of agreeing with you fully here.

[Will]

Here is an article about the punky QB known as McMahon and how medical marijuana helped him kick his pill habit:

http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/Jim-McMahon-Uses-Medical-Marijuana-Calls-it-Godsend--367012101.html

[Neely2005]

The problem is that if you're smoking it you're destroying your cardiovascular system as all smoke is toxic.

[AngeloV]

The problem is that if you're smoking it you're destroying your cardiovascular system as all smoke is toxic.

Until we all stop driving gas engine cars, I don't think we really need to worry about the smoke from pot. I'm also willing to bet that Williams is far healthier in a cardiovascular sense than the majority of society. It all depends on what else you do with your life.

And for the record, I have never smoked pot in my life.

[Neely2005]

Until we all stop driving gas engine cars, I don't think we really need to worry about the smoke from pot. I'm also willing to bet that Williams is far healthier in a cardiovascular sense than the majority of society. It all depends on what else you do with your life.

And for the record, I have never smoked pot in my life.

Actually modern cars pollute very little (lawn mowers and leaf blowers pollute more) and you aren't wrapping your lips around the tailpipe

[AngeloV]

Actually modern cars pollute very little

According to who? The manufacturers?

Possibly less than previously, but I somehow doubt they pollute less than the smoke from weed.

[jerrym]

According to who? The manufacturers?



According to Volkswagen and their emissions tests.

[Neely2005]

According to who? The manufacturers?

Possibly less than previously, but I somehow doubt they pollute less than the smoke from weed.

The point is that you don't breathe car emissions directly into your lungs like you do when smoking pot, cigarettes, cigars... regardless your argument is straw man.

[Double Dare]

Eat brownies, and drink tea. No smoke.

[paulwoods13]

If Ricky hadn't gotten hurt he might have had a big season here.

I believe he would have had a monster season if the Argos were actually committed to running the ball, which they definitely weren't, and their o-line was a bit better. The two injuries also derailed him, obviously, but in far too any games he was used as a decoy and a blocker.

[1argoholic]

Jerry that had me laughing my ass off. Yah Volkswagon and their BS!!!

[ArgoGabe22]

The point is that you don't breathe car emissions directly into your lungs like you do when smoking pot, cigarettes, cigars... regardless your argument is straw man.

Eating smoked meat leads to cancer too. I don't see anyone pushing for a smoked/BBQ meat ban. As for medical practice in the league, I'm sure the players will have a choice whether or not to take part in smoking and let's be honest here - a lot of players do already smoke weed.

[Neely2005]

Eat brownies, and drink tea. No smoke.

That would definitely be better, unfortunately most people choose to smoke it.


Eating smoked meat leads to cancer too. I don't see anyone pushing for a smoked/BBQ meat ban. As for medical practice in the league, I'm sure the players will have a choice whether or not to take part in smoking and let's be honest here - a lot of players do already smoke weed.

Again that's another straw man argument, but here you go:

https://newzar.wordpress.com/2014/01/21/smoking-meat-banned/

[ArgoGabe22]

Again that's another straw man argument, but here you go:

https://newzar.wordpress.com/2014/01/21/smoking-meat-banned/

That "ban" just cuts the amount of benzo(a)piren, a hydrocarbon found in wood-smoked foods, allowed in smoked meats from five to two per kilogram. Most sausages will be unaffected.

Anyways, I still don't get your point. Yes, any kind of smoke is bad but live the life as a professional football where painkillers are the norm and you may want to change your stance. Is smoking marijuana the best alternative form of medication? Maybe not but it's an interesting theory and something that should be studied further. The American model of medicine is pills, pills and more pills and you surely can't be saying painkillers are better than marijuana at this point? Like I said a lot of these players are already choosing to smoke marijuana, while team doctors are prescribing them with painkillers while knowing the risks involved. Like Angelo said, I find that to be much worse.

[jerrym]

People rarely talk about the other side of the painkiller story - how the pharmaceutical industry deliberately acted as global pusher of opioids for chronic ongoing pain -something many active and retired athletes suffer from - starting in the 1990s. Previously, they had been used for acute short-term pain because of their threat of addiction. However, they paid for studies that said they were safe to use for chronic pain. Now well over 100,000 people in the US have died from these prescription drugs.
Unfortunately, the revolving door between the pharmaceutical industry and its regulators is a major part of the problem.
The following article also includes an video on the issue.



The US consumes more than 80 percent of the global supply of opioids, and overdoses from prescription opioid drugs kill nearly 17,000 Americans every year, which is one overdose death every 30 minutes. As the painkiller epidemic has spread, drug company profits from opioids have soared. Over the last 10 years, revenues from opioid painkillers have more than doubled; in 2012 the figure was more than $9bn.
And as the market has grown, so has the incentive to get more and more lucrative drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Dr Andrew Kolodny is an addiction specialist who advocates for reform in opioid drug policy. He says: "They launched a marketing campaign and an educational campaign to convince the medical community that we had been underprescribing opioids. To convince us that we had been allowing patients to suffer needlessly because of what they called an overblown fear of addiction."
In October 2013, the FDA approved a powerful new opioid painkiller called Zohydro over the objections of its own medical advisors and dozens of lawmakers.




http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/faultlines/2014/10/opioid-wars-20141027122237180634.html

While the US in number 1 in opioid drug use, Canada is number 2. Furthermore, we are tragically leading in newborns addicted to these drugs as a newspaper article today testifies. Between 2002 and 2011, newborn opioid addiction in Ontario went from 0.9 to 5.1 live births per 1,000, a more than fivefold increase in less than a decade.



Canada has higher rates of babies born addicted to powerful narcotic painkillers they were exposed to in the womb than the United States, England or Western Australia, according to disturbing new research into rising rates of neonatal drug withdrawal syndrome.
It affects up to 80 per cent of infants born to women who use opioids — drugs such as oxycodone, hydromorphone and fentanyl that are behind a dramatic rise in overdose deaths.
Because opioids cross the placenta, the concentration in the fetus’s blood is the same as it is in the mother’s. At birth, the placenta is cut off and with it the baby’s drug supply.
Soon after, the babies become jittery, irritable and have difficulty breathing. They cry more and their heart rate is faster. They can also experience seizures and respiratory distress.

“Basically, they’re in withdrawal,” said Dr. Astrid Guttman, chief science officer at Toronto’s Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) and a pediatrician at the Hospital for Sick Children. ...


In the new study, researchers measured neonatal drug withdrawal in four jurisdictions — England, Western Australia, the U.S. and Canada. The Canadian data came from Ontario.

The rates stabilized in England and Australia from the early 2000s, but rose steeply in the U.S. and Ontario during the late 2000s.

The rate was 5.1 per 1,000 live births in Ontario in 2011 — 667 babies — nearly double the rates in England and Western Australia (2.7 per 1,000 births) and higher than the U.S. (3.6).
In 2002, the rate in Ontario was less than one, or 0.9 babies born into withdrawal for every 1,000 live births.




http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/canadas-opioid-crisis-leading-to-more-babies-born-addicted-study

[AngeloV]

People rarely talk about the other side of the painkiller story - how the pharmaceutical industry deliberately acted as global pusher of opioids for chronic ongoing pain -something many active and retired athletes suffer from - starting in the 1990s. Previously, they had been used for acute short-term pain because of their threat of addiction. However, they paid for studies that said they were safe to use for chronic pain. Now well over 100,000 people in the US have died from these prescription drugs.
Unfortunately, the revolving door between the pharmaceutical industry and its regulators is a major part of the problem.
The following article also includes an video on the issue.



http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/faultlines/2014/10/opioid-wars-20141027122237180634.html

Agreed Jerry 100%. This world has become more and more about taking care of shareholders financial stakes and less and less about taking care of people and their well being, and the pharmaceutical companies are at the top of the list. Really sad.

Try watching US TV after 11pm. It is ridiculous all the drugs they are peddling. The best is how quickly they fly through all the possible side effects.

[Neely2005]

That "ban" just cuts the amount of benzo(a)piren, a hydrocarbon found in wood-smoked foods, allowed in smoked meats from five to two per kilogram. Most sausages will be unaffected.

Anyways, I still don't get your point. Yes, any kind of smoke is bad but live the life as a professional football where painkillers are the norm and you may want to change your stance. Is smoking marijuana the best alternative form of medication? Maybe not but it's an interesting theory and something that should be studied further. The American model of medicine is pills, pills and more pills and you surely can't be saying painkillers are better than marijuana at this point? Like I said a lot of these players are already choosing to smoke marijuana, while team doctors are prescribing them with painkillers while knowing the risks involved. Like Angelo said, I find that to be much worse.

That was my point. People like to pretend that Pot is safe, but if you smoke it, it's not. It also shouldn't be used by anyone who's brain isn't fully developed (usually around 21 years old) as it alters their brain chemistry.


Agreed Jerry 100%. This world has become more and more about taking care of shareholders financial stakes and less and less about taking care of people and their well being, and the pharmaceutical companies are at the top of the list. Really sad.

Try watching US TV after 11pm. It is ridiculous all the drugs they are peddling. The best is how quickly they fly through all the possible side effects.

Agreed, more and more it's all about the $.

[Will]

Agreed Jerry 100%. This world has become more and more about taking care of shareholders financial stakes and less and less about taking care of people and their well being, and the pharmaceutical companies are at the top of the list. Really sad.

Try watching US TV after 11pm. It is ridiculous all the drugs they are peddling. The best is how quickly they fly through all the possible side effects.

Lipitor is one of the worst.

[AngeloV]

That was my point. People like to pretend that Pot is safe, but if you smoke it, it's not. It also shouldn't be used by anyone who's brain isn't fully developed (usually around 21) as it alters their brain chemistry.

Who's pretending it's 100% safe? The major debate here is whether it is safer than pain killers over a long period of time. People that don't have a financial stake in peddling meds seem to think so.

[Will]

Who's pretending it's 100% safe? The major debate here is whether it is safer than pain killers over a long period of time. People that don't have a financial stake in peddling meds seem to think so.

I keep thinking about Jake "The Snake" Roberts the longer this conversation goes. I'm sure that Angelo is aware of the story, but for others I will share. When he turned babyface in early 1987 his first feud was with Honky Tonk Man, and part of the storyline was Honky hitting Jake with his guitar setting up their match at Wrestlemania III. The problem was that someone screwed up the prop and it was a real guitar instead of a hollow guitar, and Jake's neck or disc got really screwed up from this. He blames that incident for incident for his addiction on painkillers that he has only recently kicked with the help of Diamond Dallas Page.

[Neely2005]

Who's pretending it's 100% safe? The major debate here is whether it is safer than pain killers over a long period of time. People that don't have a financial stake in peddling meds seem to think so.

Ricky Williams seems to be suggesting that it is.

[AngeloV]

I keep thinking about Jake "The Snake" Roberts the longer this conversation goes. I'm sure that Angelo is aware of the story, but for others I will share. When he turned babyface in early 1987 his first feud was with Honky Tonk Man, and part of the storyline was Honky hitting Jake with his guitar setting up their match at Wrestlemania III. The problem was that someone screwed up the prop and it was a real guitar instead of a hollow guitar, and Jake's neck or disc got really screwed up from this. He blames that incident for incident for his addiction on painkillers that he has only recently kicked with the help of Diamond Dallas Page.

Painkillers are the worst, because you almost aren't even aware you are taking them. When I had surgery in 2014 on my Achilles, I was given a prescription for pain killers, but never filled it.

[jerrym]

Many football players, as well as other athletes, have suffered severely and even died while taking painkillers.




Just as head trauma is coming into the light of day as a football problem, so is painkiller abuse. Professional football players are major consumers of three kinds of painkillers: Narcotic pills such as Vicodin, injected local anesthesia, and Toradol, an all-purpose pain reliever that a disturbing number of NFL players have injected even when they are feeling fine.
Ryan Leaf (http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/_/id/1427/ryan-leaf) is renowned for being a draft bust. Chosen second overall in 1998, immediately after Peyton Manning (http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/_/id/1428/peyton-manning), Leaf's NFL stay was brief. He tried to play for the San Diego Chargers (http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/_/name/sd/san-diego-chargers) with a broken wrist, making an existing injury worse; to get through this, Leaf took lots of painkillers and became an addict. Since leaving athletics in 2002, twice Leaf has pleaded guilty to felonies involving theft or illegal possession of narcotic painkillers. Currently he is serving a prison sentence in Montana.
Leaf is hardly alone among former football players in having problems with prescription narcotics. Tom McHale (http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/_/id/7061/tom-mchale), who played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/_/name/tb/tampa-bay-buccaneers)and Philadelphia Eagles (http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/_/name/phi/philadelphia-eagles), died in 2008 of an accidental overdose of painkillers. Craig Newsome (http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/_/id/755/craig-newsome), a former Green Bay Packers (http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/_/name/gb/green-bay-packers) defensive back, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in 2012 he became a painkiller addict. Newsome played in 53 NFL games, and left the sport with surgical scars on both knees and across his chest; Percocet was his response. Former Houston Oilers star Earl Campbell, who began walking with a cane in his 40s, left athletics as a painkiller addict: his scoliosis, which occurred naturally, was made worse by football contact, leaving him with chronic severe back pain. Walt Sweeney, a Pro Bowl offensive tackle for San Diego in the 1960s, in 1994 sued the NFL alleging his painkiller addiction was "directly related" to football injuries and to narcotics freely distributed by the Chargers. (Sweeney's claim won at the trial level; the NFL won on appeal.) In 2012, Ray Lucas (http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/_/id/1161/ray-lucas), a former New York Jets (http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/_/name/nyj/new-york-jets) and Miami Dolphins (http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/_/name/mia/miami-dolphins) quarterback, told Toni Monkovic of the New York Times that after back and neck injuries, he became addicted to prescription painkillers, taking as many as 25 tablets a day: three or four daily is a normal dose.
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http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/10975522/excerpt-painkillers-abuse-nfl-king-sports-gregg-easterbrook

This issue has long been ignored.



Prescription painkiller abuse is one of the dirty little secrets of college and professional sports.
It doesn't get the attention of muscle-building steroids, but tiny tablets like Lortab or Vicodin keep players in the game, especially those nursing chronic injuries. But pill popping can lead to dependency, crime, illicit drugs and death.
"It's a major problem," says Marcus Amos, who speaks at colleges and sports campuses about painkiller abuse through his Prevention Education for Athletes program. "But it's like this potential addiction wants to be hidden."
A string of local college athletes have become hooked on prescription pain medication dating back to the 1980s. Some moved to cheaper street drugs like heroin. They begged, borrowed and stole to feed their habits. They washed out of sports and school. They ruined relationships. They landed in jail. At least two died.
"There's no doubt it's a problem," said former Brigham Young University athletic director Val Hale. "It's something that people don't want to talk about, but it's certainly there."
Painkiller abuse is prevalent in pro sports. For some athletes, pain pills are as essential to getting through a season as working out.
Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre, the NFL's all-time leading passer, is perhaps the best known sports figure to admit a problem. In 1996, he spent 45 days in rehab for addiction to Vicodin.
Administrators, team doctors, coaches and athletic trainers don't perceive prescription drug abuse as widespread in college athletics. But the issue hasn't received much study. University of Utah team doctor Liz Joy said she does not recall seeing prevalence figures for athletes' abuse of prescription narcotics.
"It is the dark side," said longtime U. sports psychologist Keith Henschen.
The NCAA does conduct a periodic survey of drug use among college athletes in a variety of sports, the last one in 2005. The extensive questionnaire asks about anabolic steroids, ephedrine, nutritional supplements, tobacco, alcohol, ecstacy, amphetamines, marijuana, hallucinogens and cocaine.
Everything but prescription narcotics.
"We don't have a targeted effort looking at that issue," said Mary Wilfert, NCAA associate director of education services. "We don't identify it as a category. We don't ban analgesic narcotics, so we haven't focused on that for student-athletes."


http://www.deseretnews.com/article/695222184/Painkillers-the-dark-side-of-sports.html?pg=all

Of course abuse of painkillers also happens in the CFL.



No one ever had a concussion. They got their bell rung. No one ever had nerve damage from a spinal compression. They had stingers. Anything short of a bone sticking out of the skin was taped up, shot up and sent back in. That’s what being a pro was all about.
Reality began to hit home in 1986 when Eskimos defensive back James Bell was carried off the field at BC Place with no feeling below the neck after a three-player collision with Lions receiver Jan Carinci and Edmonton safety Laurent Deslauriers.
Bell would eventually sit in a wheelchair and then walk with a cane, but it was a long, lonely recovery, and life as he knew it was over. He was 27 years old. He would be 55 now, I guess.
Like so many CFL players, he was eventually forgotten. Out of sight, out of mind, part of a mind-blowing turnover rate that chews up and spits out players like sunflower seeds.
When Kepley nearly died in 1992 of an abscessed colon, and lost his spleen — when the bill for all those years of denying pain or killing it with booze and drugs had to be paid — I suppose it should have sparked a pang of complicity in someone who’d been close enough to the team to have sounded the alarm long before that. But it didn’t.





http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/Players+gone+gridiron+guilt+lingers/10336422/story.html

[argolio]

According to Volkswagen and their emissions tests.lol!

[jerrym]

The NFL Runs on Piles of PainkillersFootball is so brutal that the league is accused of doling out dangerous amounts and mixes of narcotics to keep players in the game. Now even the DEA is concerned.
On Sunday, according to ESPN (http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/11886404/drug-enforcement-administration-stages-surprise-nfl-inspections), Federal Drug Enforcement agents conducted “surprise inspections” of multiple NFL teams, including the Seattle Seahawks and the San Francisco 49ers, as part of an ongoing investigation into the use, or rather the misuse, of prescription drugs.

A source explained to ESPN that “the inspections were motivated by allegations raised in a May 2014 federal lawsuit, filed on behalf of several prominent NFL players, who allege team physicians and trainers routinely gave them painkillers in an illegal manner to mask injuries and keep them on the field."

The two teams listed above weren’t explicitly targeted. A law enforcement official told the Washington Post that, “the investigation focuses on practices across the 32-team league, including possible distribution of drugs without prescriptions or labels and the dispensing of drugs by trainers rather than physicians.”



This unannounced visit by the feds didn’t result in any NFL employees being trundled off in chains, mind you. "Our teams cooperated with the DEA today and we have no information to indicate that irregularities were found,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy (http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000429654/article/dea-agents-check-nfl-medical-staffs-after-games)said.

Well, that’s technically true, but regardless of Sunday’s events, the idea that there are no “irregularities” when it comes to prescription drugs and the NFL is laughable.







http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/11/17/the-nfl-runs-on-piles-of-painkillers.html

[AngeloV]

Ontario probably has the most draconian liquor laws in North America.
:(

So let me get this straight...You have a problem with medicinal marijuana because you say the smoke intake is dangerous...but have no issue with alcohol?

[Neely2005]

So let me get this straight...You have a problem with medicinal marijuana because you say the smoke intake is dangerous...but have no issue with alcohol?

I never said that I have a problem with medical marijuana so I'm not sure where you're getting that from or what it has to do with the topic of tailgating. All I said is that All smoke is toxic and smoking Anything will damage your cardiovascular system.

[AngeloV]

I never said that I have a problem with medical marijuana so I'm not sure where you're getting that from or what it has to do with the topic of tailgating. All I said is that All smoke is toxic and smoking Anything will damage your cardiovascular system.

OK, got it. For the record I'm willing to bet that there are more illnesses and deaths that come from alcohol than from pot.

[Neely2005]

OK, got it. For the record I'm willing to bet that there are more illnesses and deaths that come from alcohol than from pot.

Abusing anything will have negative consequences.

Alcohol and marijuana have both been shown to have health benefits and health repercussions.

[argonaut11xx]

I have no problem with using the medical ingredients in pot to help with pain,taken in a form where the user does NOT get high.

Smoking of any kind is not healthy, and if the users get stoned then thats an issue too.

Out here in BC,people walk around stoned out of their minds alot, and most of the potheads i know even think its OK to drive when they are high.

[Argo57]

I have no problem with using the medical ingredients in pot to help with pain,taken in a form where the user does NOT get high.

Smoking of any kind is not healthy, and if the users get stoned then thats an issue too.

Out here in BC,people walk around stoned out of their minds alot, and most of the potheads i know even think its OK to drive when they are high.

You're last statement is one of my big concerns drinking and driving has and will be a major concern in years to come, but alas a greater possibility of drivers cruising around high as a kite, but I guess Mr Trudeau already has that figured out.

[Rich]

You're last statement is one of my big concerns drinking and driving has and will be a major concern in years to come, but alas a greater possibility of drivers cruising around high as a kite, but I guess Mr Trudeau already has that figured out.

This is not the place for the discussion, but the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued a report last year (http://www.techtimes.com/articles/32956/20150216/stoned-drivers-are-safer-than-drunk-drivers-nhtsa-study-suggests.htm) which declared that stoned drivers were much safer than drunk drivers.

[Argo57]

This is not the place for the discussion, but the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued a report last year (http://www.techtimes.com/articles/32956/20150216/stoned-drivers-are-safer-than-drunk-drivers-nhtsa-study-suggests.htm) which declared that stoned drivers were much safer than drunk drivers.

Oh, ok I stand corrected, stoned drivers sit somewhere between drunk drivers and sober drivers, thanks for clearing that up.👍


[T-Bone]

I have no problem with using the medical ingredients in pot to help with pain,taken in a form where the user does NOT get high.

Smoking of any kind is not healthy, and if the users get stoned then thats an issue too.
Isn't taking pretty much any type of pain medicine getting high? It's dosage that controls how high, no?


Oh, ok I stand corrected, stoned drivers sit somewhere between drunk drivers and sober drivers, thanks for clearing that up.

The problem of people driving high already exists and is illegal, it's covered under "impaired driving." I guess the question is, will legalizing marijuana increase the number of people driving high significantly?

[Neely2005]

Isn't taking pretty much any type of pain medicine getting high? It's dosage that controls how high, no?


The problem of people driving high already exists and is illegal, it's covered under "impaired driving." I guess the question is, will legalizing marijuana increase the number of people driving high significantly?

The problem is that there's no roadside breathalyzer test for driving stoned like their is for alcohol. Also like Argo57 said a lot of people don't think that it impairs their driving ability even though it does.

[argonaut11xx]

Isn't taking pretty much any type of pain medicine getting high? It's dosage that controls how high, no?

I would suggest that getting stoned is not medicinal, but having a targeted pain area addressed should be the idea of medication.

Just my opinion,

The only reason i dislike pot is it smells like a skunks ass, and out here in BC people are the most ignorant smokers i have ever come across in my 50+ years on this planet. Many of the stoners out here are militant, and feel its ok to get stoned in public, in a crowd,on a skytrain ramp etc.


This is not the place for the discussion, but the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued a report last year (http://www.techtimes.com/articles/32956/20150216/stoned-drivers-are-safer-than-drunk-drivers-nhtsa-study-suggests.htm) which declared that stoned drivers were much safer than drunk drivers.
Texting drivers are the worst

[Rich]

Oh, ok I stand corrected, stoned drivers sit somewhere between drunk drivers and sober drivers, thanks for clearing that up.


That's not what the NHTSA report said. I will quote from it directly, you can read it for yourself (http://www.nhtsa.gov/Driving+Safety/Research+&+Evaluation/Alcohol+and+Drug+Use+By+Drivers):


"When demographic factors (age and gender) and alcohol use were controlled, the study did not find an increase in population-based crash risk associated with THC use."

Did you ever consider that maybe Mr. Trudeau's people have done more research on this subject than you have?

[Argo57]

That's not what the NHTSA report said. I will quote from it directly, you can read it for yourself (http://www.nhtsa.gov/Driving+Safety/Research+&+Evaluation/Alcohol+and+Drug+Use+By+Drivers):



Did you ever consider that maybe Mr. Trudeau's people have done more research on this subject than you have?

Yes, I always believe that our (or any) government acts responsibly and researches every decision they make in the best interests of the public.
I'm also sure they don't pander for votes or haven't considered any financial benefit from the taxes collected by legalizing pot (which is probably what they actually researched).
But anyways.

[Neely2005]

Yes, I always believe that our (or any) government acts responsibly and researches every decision they make in the best interests of the public.
I'm also sure they don't pander for votes or haven't considered any financial benefit from the taxes collected by legalizing pot (which is probably what they actually researched).
But anyways.

Lol, government always does what's in the best interest of it's citizens.
;)

[jerrym]

BC's signing of DE Frank Alexander, who was suspended three times for violating NFL rules against the use of marijuana, raises the CFL's approach to marijuana versus the NFL's once again, especially when the NFL allows the use of powerful opioid anti-inflammatories and painkillers, including Vicodin and Toradol.
Ricky Williams claims that 60 to 70% of NFLers use marijuana in order to reduce their use of opioids.



Against a rising tide of social change, the NFL remains adamant that marijuana is a no-no, even though players increasingly turn to cannabis as a pain reliever, stress reducer or recreational doobie.
The high-profile Williams — the Miami Dolphins’ star running back essentially on loan to the Toronto Argonauts — ended up in Canada for the 2006 season after failing the league’s substance abuse policy multiple times.
Last year, the retired player, and marijuana legalization advocate, told Sports Illustrated he believes 60 to 70 per cent of NFL players smoke weed, as a safer alternative to league-prescribed opioids such as Toradol and Vicodin. Those are the same anti-inflammatories and painkillers found in the medicine chests of all nine CFL teams.
Whether kickoff time is high time in Canada, who really knows how many CFL players are self-medicating, and to what extent?
But more relaxed attitudes and policy to the rare air up there have allowed potentially active NFL roster players such as Alexander and Lions’ nickel back Louchiez Purifoy, another tripped up by grass, to be recruited by CFL teams.
“We typically suggest marijuana be taken off the banned list, although we’re not condoning its use professionally,” says Paul Melia, president and CEO of CCES (Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport), which oversees drug testing in the country.
“The CFL didn’t argue to put it on the list because it’s not performance-enhancing. Marijuana does affect motor coordination skills, though, and you see increasing evidence of its use to mask pain and injury. That’s something we need to monitor closely.
“Anything that allows a player to play through injury is not a good thing.”
Ryan Rigmaiden [Lions Director of US Scouting], who lives in Pinehurst, N.C., a two-hour drive from Alexander’s home in Charlotte, understands that some people may perceive character issues are coming north with the former Panther, but he believes that’s not the case here.
“Players like Frank have a lot of questions about them,” Rigmaiden admits. “I’ve visited his home. I’ve talked with Frank and his parents. We’ve talked to the Panthers’ coaching staff. Everybody can vouch for this kid. As a person, he sure is likable.
“I think Frank will tell you he’s made several mistakes — and he can’t do that anymore. Wally (GM Buono) and I felt comfortable, the way we looked into his background, about going ahead and signing him.”
On the subject of medicinal marijuana, Alexander is all for it.
His mother, Juanita, underwent surgery three years ago for breast cancer, had a mass removed, and her son believes it’s helped in the recovery. Studies have shown that compounds in cannabis can inhibit breast cancer cells from metastasizing and spreading throughout the body.
“She’s doing well, very good,” Alexander says. “But I’m not an advocate for marijuana or an advocate against it. I don’t really want to get into the discussion.


http://theprovince.com/sports/football/cfl/bc-lions/mike-beamish-frank-alexander-gives-lions-his-token-appreciation-for-fresh-start


(http://theprovince.com/sports/football/cfl/bc-lions/mike-beamish-frank-alexander-gives-lions-his-token-appreciation-for-fresh-start)

[jerrym]

The hypocrisy of the NFL approach to drugs can be seen in the lawsuit against the NFL by 1,800 former players alleging that NFL team doctors and trainers were illegally distributing opioids to players for decades.



National Football League (https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/nfl/?utm_term=.9001ba8975db) teams violated federal laws governing prescription drugs, disregarded guidance from the Drug Enforcement Administration on how to store, track, transport and distribute controlled substances, and plied their players with powerful painkillers and anti-inflammatories each season, according to sealed court documents contained in a federal lawsuit filed by former players. ...
Federal law lays out strict guidelines for how teams can handle and dispense prescription drugs. The sealed court filing, which includes testimony and documents by team and league medical personnel, describes multiple instances in which team and league officials were made aware of abuses, record-keeping problems and even violations of federal law and were either slow in responding or failed to comply.
The filing, which was prepared by lawyers for the players suing the league, asserts that “every doctor deposed so far . . . has testified that they violated one or more” federal drug laws and regulations “while serving in their capacity as a team doctor.” Anthony Yates, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ team doctor and past president of the NFL Physicians Society, testified in a deposition that “a majority of clubs as of 2010 had trainers controlling and handling prescription medications and controlled substances when they should not have,” the filing states. ...
The court filing reveals that the teams dispensed painkillers and prescription-strength anti-inflammatories in numbers far beyond anything previously acknowledged or made public. In the calendar year of 2012, for example, the average team prescribed nearly 5,777 doses of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and 2,213 doses of controlled medications to its players, according to a March 2013 internal document from Lawrence Brown, the NFL-employed medical adviser who oversees its drug issues. ...

Those numbers could average out to about six to seven pain pills or injections a week per player over the course of a typical NFL season, but sports medicine experts noted that it’s unlikely the drugs were distributed evenly over the entire roster and just as unlikely that team logs represent the full extent of medications players seek out to manage pain.
“It sounds like an incredible amount of intervention with some pretty risky drugs, some of which, in the case of Vicodin, have a high addiction potential,” said Arthur Caplan, director of the Division of Medical Ethics at New York University’s Langone Medical Center and co-founder of the NYU Sports and Society Program. “It makes you think, are the physicians looking out for the health of the players, or are they just trying to keep them on the field?”

The filing likens painkillers to performance-enhancing drugs and says while players often felt compelled to use them to contribute to their teams, medical staffs felt pressured to administer them to remain competitive. A February 2006 memo included in the court filing was from the Minnesota Vikings’ head trainer, Eric Sugarman. Writing to then-head coach Brad Childress and the team’s vice president for operations, the trainer said he had met for three hours with team physician David Fischer and lamented that the Vikings were not regularly using a powerful painkiller called Toradol, as other teams were.
“I expressed my concern that [the Vikings] are at a competitive disadvantage. . . . I feel very strongly about this point,” he wrote. “. . . I feel that Dr. Fischer is beginning to see my point of view on many issues. I also feel he is willing to change to improve.” ...

Another league document, produced in September 2014, called “NFL Prescription Drug Program Advisory Committee Major Findings and Recommendations,” reported the “non-physician administration and/or dispensing of medications occurs at many Clubs,” the complaint states. Federal law bars nonlicensed team personnel, such as athletic trainers, from dispensing medication. The complaint cites multiple instances in which clubs were warned about this practice, including letters from Brown to the Bengals, Kansas City Chiefs and Tennessee Titans. ...

Toradol, a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory often used to manage short-term postoperative pain, deadens feeling and inhibits the body’s ability to sense injury. The opiate Vicodin also relieves and masks pain, but unlike Toradol, it is highly addictive. According to the March 2013 document from Brown, the Steelers provided its players 7,442 doses of NSAIDs in 2012 — only the 10th most in the league that year — and 2,123 doses of unnamed controlled medications — the 14th most. ...

In 2011, Cottler, who has helped advise the league in the past on prescription drugs, led the most comprehensive study to date on painkiller use in the NFL, surveying 644 retired NFL players. More than half the respondents said they used opioids during their NFL careers, and seven in 10 admitted to misusing the drugs. Of that group, 22 percent said they took six or more pills each day during their playing careers, the highest amount reported in the survey.
That study found that 7 percent of the former players were still actively using opioid drugs in retirement — more than four times the rate of opioid use in the general population at the time.
The sealed documents might not provide a full picture of the league’s use of pain medications, but they do offer snapshots of how much teams rely on pharmaceuticals to put their players on the field each week. According to the court filing: The Atlanta Falcons spent nearly $100,000 on prescriptions in a single year — nearly three times the league average; a Bengals trainer said he’s aware of teams that dispense 90 or more Vicodin pills per game; one drug inventory showed that during seven months of 2004, the Indianapolis Colts administered 900 doses of Toradol and 585 doses of Vicodin. ...

One drug in particular is highlighted throughout the lawsuit as a staple for NFL teams. Toradol is available only with a prescription. Though not addictive, it is powerful enough that many countries only administer it in hospitals and only after surgery. The lawsuit claims teams would freely offer it each Sunday to numb existing injuries but also in anticipation of the inevitable aches and pains accrued each Sunday.
A 2002 study found that 28 of the 30 teams that responded to a questionnaire administered Toradol injections — 15 players each game day on average. Though team physicians have been aware that such use was “off label,” the practice continued for more than a decade. In the 2013 Post survey of retired players, 50 percent of those who retired in the 1990s or later reported using Toradol during their careers, including seven out of 10 who retired in 2000 or later. ...
Yates testified in his deposition that “that even last season, he witnessed players lining up for the ‘T Train’ — Toradol injections before a game.”


https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/redskins/nfl-abuse-of-painkillers-and-other-drugs-described-in-court-filings/2017/03/09/be1a71d8-035a-11e7-ad5b-d22680e18d10_story.html?utm_term=.5d5d96849f9a

[jerrym]

The hypocrisy of the NFL approach to drugs can be seen in the lawsuit against the NFL by 1,800 former players alleging that NFL team doctors and trainers were illegally distributing opioids to players for decades.



National Football League (https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/nfl/?utm_term=.9001ba8975db) teams violated federal laws governing prescription drugs, disregarded guidance from the Drug Enforcement Administration on how to store, track, transport and distribute controlled substances, and plied their players with powerful painkillers and anti-inflammatories each season, according to sealed court documents contained in a federal lawsuit filed by former players. ...
Federal law lays out strict guidelines for how teams can handle and dispense prescription drugs. The sealed court filing, which includes testimony and documents by team and league medical personnel, describes multiple instances in which team and league officials were made aware of abuses, record-keeping problems and even violations of federal law and were either slow in responding or failed to comply.
The filing, which was prepared by lawyers for the players suing the league, asserts that “every doctor deposed so far . . . has testified that they violated one or more” federal drug laws and regulations “while serving in their capacity as a team doctor.” Anthony Yates, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ team doctor and past president of the NFL Physicians Society, testified in a deposition that “a majority of clubs as of 2010 had trainers controlling and handling prescription medications and controlled substances when they should not have,” the filing states. ...
The court filing reveals that the teams dispensed painkillers and prescription-strength anti-inflammatories in numbers far beyond anything previously acknowledged or made public. In the calendar year of 2012, for example, the average team prescribed nearly 5,777 doses of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and 2,213 doses of controlled medications to its players, according to a March 2013 internal document from Lawrence Brown, the NFL-employed medical adviser who oversees its drug issues. ...

Those numbers could average out to about six to seven pain pills or injections a week per player over the course of a typical NFL season, but sports medicine experts noted that it’s unlikely the drugs were distributed evenly over the entire roster and just as unlikely that team logs represent the full extent of medications players seek out to manage pain.
“It sounds like an incredible amount of intervention with some pretty risky drugs, some of which, in the case of Vicodin, have a high addiction potential,” said Arthur Caplan, director of the Division of Medical Ethics at New York University’s Langone Medical Center and co-founder of the NYU Sports and Society Program. “It makes you think, are the physicians looking out for the health of the players, or are they just trying to keep them on the field?”

The filing likens painkillers to performance-enhancing drugs and says while players often felt compelled to use them to contribute to their teams, medical staffs felt pressured to administer them to remain competitive. A February 2006 memo included in the court filing was from the Minnesota Vikings’ head trainer, Eric Sugarman. Writing to then-head coach Brad Childress and the team’s vice president for operations, the trainer said he had met for three hours with team physician David Fischer and lamented that the Vikings were not regularly using a powerful painkiller called Toradol, as other teams were.
“I expressed my concern that [the Vikings] are at a competitive disadvantage. . . . I feel very strongly about this point,” he wrote. “. . . I feel that Dr. Fischer is beginning to see my point of view on many issues. I also feel he is willing to change to improve.” ...

Another league document, produced in September 2014, called “NFL Prescription Drug Program Advisory Committee Major Findings and Recommendations,” reported the “non-physician administration and/or dispensing of medications occurs at many Clubs,” the complaint states. Federal law bars nonlicensed team personnel, such as athletic trainers, from dispensing medication. The complaint cites multiple instances in which clubs were warned about this practice, including letters from Brown to the Bengals, Kansas City Chiefs and Tennessee Titans. ...

Toradol, a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory often used to manage short-term postoperative pain, deadens feeling and inhibits the body’s ability to sense injury. The opiate Vicodin also relieves and masks pain, but unlike Toradol, it is highly addictive. According to the March 2013 document from Brown, the Steelers provided its players 7,442 doses of NSAIDs in 2012 — only the 10th most in the league that year — and 2,123 doses of unnamed controlled medications — the 14th most. ...

In 2011, Cottler, who has helped advise the league in the past on prescription drugs, led the most comprehensive study to date on painkiller use in the NFL, surveying 644 retired NFL players. More than half the respondents said they used opioids during their NFL careers, and seven in 10 admitted to misusing the drugs. Of that group, 22 percent said they took six or more pills each day during their playing careers, the highest amount reported in the survey.
That study found that 7 percent of the former players were still actively using opioid drugs in retirement — more than four times the rate of opioid use in the general population at the time.
The sealed documents might not provide a full picture of the league’s use of pain medications, but they do offer snapshots of how much teams rely on pharmaceuticals to put their players on the field each week. According to the court filing: The Atlanta Falcons spent nearly $100,000 on prescriptions in a single year — nearly three times the league average; a Bengals trainer said he’s aware of teams that dispense 90 or more Vicodin pills per game; one drug inventory showed that during seven months of 2004, the Indianapolis Colts administered 900 doses of Toradol and 585 doses of Vicodin. ...

One drug in particular is highlighted throughout the lawsuit as a staple for NFL teams. Toradol is available only with a prescription. Though not addictive, it is powerful enough that many countries only administer it in hospitals and only after surgery. The lawsuit claims teams would freely offer it each Sunday to numb existing injuries but also in anticipation of the inevitable aches and pains accrued each Sunday.
A 2002 study found that 28 of the 30 teams that responded to a questionnaire administered Toradol injections — 15 players each game day on average. Though team physicians have been aware that such use was “off label,” the practice continued for more than a decade. In the 2013 Post survey of retired players, 50 percent of those who retired in the 1990s or later reported using Toradol during their careers, including seven out of 10 who retired in 2000 or later. ...
Yates testified in his deposition that “that even last season, he witnessed players lining up for the ‘T Train’ — Toradol injections before a game.”


https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/redskins/nfl-abuse-of-painkillers-and-other-drugs-described-in-court-filings/2017/03/09/be1a71d8-035a-11e7-ad5b-d22680e18d10_story.html?utm_term=.5d5d96849f9a