September 7, 2016
As football season kicks off this week, full of glory and pain for players, I’m recalling an interview with Jerome “The Bus” Bettis, the heart of the Steelers Super Bowl XL winning team, as he was on the cusp of retirement and embracing the introspection that comes with the end of a storied career.
Bettis was vocal about his commitment to the game and candid about the physical sacrifices he made to play at a high level for 13 seasons. The profile intended to capture the magnitude and import of his last game at Super Bowl XL, but what I recall the most is Bettis’s morning routine, and his agony simply getting out of bed.
Bettis recounted that sometimes he can’t even walk down the stairs in his house. Instead, he opts to sit on the top step and slides down each subsequent step on his butt. Eleven years later, that memory stays with me. I am reminded of it every time I witness a gruesome hit that elicits both gasps and applause from the crowd. And it comes to mind every time I read about an athlete being suspended for marijuana use.
Recently, a spate of athletes have come under fire for using marijuana as a pain reliever, despite research showing marijuana and its derivatives can aid in the treatment of chronic pain–like the debilitating pain that many current and retired football players and other athletes live with–and the establishment of medical marijuana programs across the country.
However, the National Football League (NFL) considers marijuana a banned substance, and current players must contend with the league’s Policy and Program on Substance of Abuse, which tests, evaluates, treats, and monitors players for use of such substances. Players who test positive for marijuana are sent to stage one of a multi-tiered intervention program, in which a medical director decides whether the player would benefit from clinical intervention and/or treatment. Repeat violations post-intervention can lead to two-week, four-week, four-game, ten-game, and yearlong suspensions. Since 2011, 104 players have been suspended for a drug-related offense, and in 2016 alone 21 players have been suspended from the NFL for marijuana use.
Although two-dozen states now allow the use of some forms of marijuana, the NFL has yet to change its position—drawing deserved scrutiny from players and sports analysts. The league’s unyielding position on the use of recreational and medicinal marijuana adversely impacts players’ long- and short-term earning potential and limits the ways players can manage their chronic pain, which affects nearly 9 out of 10 players according to a Washington Post survey.
Further, it flies in the face of the breadth of evidence showing that marijuana and cannabinoids can be used as healthy alternative to opioids in the treatment of chronic pain. It seems hypocritical that, while the NFL monitors the use of illicit substances, players freely use prescription opioids and receive shots of Toradol and Vicodin to remain functional through intense pain—even though those substances might not be the most healthful option due to the risk for misuse over regular and long-term use plus other detrimental health consequences.
In a study of former NFL players, a team of researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis found that more than half of the league’s veterans had taken narcotics during their playing days and more than a third were using them habitually in retirement. The study also found that almost three-quarters of that cohort had misused the drugs (taking them longer, and in greater amounts, than suggested) and the majority (63 percent) received their drugs from a nonmedical source like a trainer instead of the team doctor.
Given the population of 18,000 current NFL retirees, that means at least 3,000 are taking narcotics, and at least 1,500 suffer from pain-pill dependence that compounds their chronic conditions. Considering the ample research showing a decrease in opiate overdoses in states with medical marijuana programs, it’s time for the NFL to reconsider its stringent marijuana policy and allow players to use marijuana to relieve pain.
I am one of the many Americans waiting for the start of the football season. I will be watching every game and cheering for the big hits, managing my feelings of guilt, and hoping that the players don’t withstand season-ending injuries. I respect any athlete’s choice to play a sport where physical violence is perpetual and injury is inevitable. I also want players to be able to enjoy life post-retirement. The NFL should craft policies that will benefit its players after they’ve left the field.
Do it for “The Bus.”
Dionna King is a policy coordinator for the Drug Policy Alliance, based in New York.