| The average NFL career is 3.3 years, according to 2016 data from the league’s players association (NFLPA).
Players like seven-time Super Bowl champion quarterback Tom Brady, who plans to suit up for his 22nd season of football at the age of 44 this fall, are anomalies in the full-contact sport, which is rife with injury. Pain relievers are considered career-saving drugs that can keep players on the field, but the question remains: at what cost?
The NFL and NFLPA announced Tuesday they will provide $1 million to fund up to five research studies to investigate pain management and the effects of cannabinoids on athletic performance in elite football players as part of an effort to explore alternatives to opioids.
Opioids have long been used in the NFL. According to a study by Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis substance abuse researcher Linda Cottler, whose team surveyed 644 players who retired from the NFL between 1979 and 2006, 52% of retired players said they had used opioids in order to stay on the field longer and compete through pain or injury.
The announcement to fund cannabis research came on the heels of the NFL and NFLPA’s joint Pain Management Committee (PMC) memo from June 4, which advised players the controversial drug Toradol “should not be used prior to, during or after NFL games or practices as a means of reducing anticipated pain.”
An injectable nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), Toradol can mask concussions and lead to more serious injuries, as can other painkillers, according to GoodRx. Its widespread use in the NFL came into the spotlight in 2011, when 12 retired players filed a concussion-related lawsuit against the NFL over the league’s administration of the painkiller.
The NFL banned helmet-to-helmet contact in 2010 to address player safety concerns regarding concussions, but concussions in full-contact sports extend well beyond the past decade.
Pro Football Hall of Famer “Iron Mike” Webster, who played 17 years as a center in the league, winning four Super Bowl rings with the Pittsburgh Steelers between 1975 and 1980, became a symbol of head injuries after he died of a heart attack in 2002 at the age of 50. Webster’s mental health deteriorated before he died, sparking Nigerian-born pathologist Dr. Bennet Omalu’s interest in what the ex-player’s brain would reveal about his behavior.
Omalu brought the issue of brain damage in retied football players to the forefront through his 2005 research paper, explaining his belief that Webster’s mental health was the result of repeated head blows from his playing career, which led to Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative brain disease related to repeated head trauma.
While the NFL does not allow cannabis or its derivatives to be administered for pain management, this is the first offseason that the league’s random drug testing window—from April 20 to Aug. 9—does not include screening players for tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).
Funding $1 million in research to investigate pain-management alternatives to opioids and drugs like Toradol is a generous offer. Considering the history of player safety in the league as well as advances in medicinal cannabis, perhaps it’s not generous enough.
-Tony Lange, Associate Editor | 