Medical Marijuana In The NFL

For many years marijuana has been voted on in each state about whether or not recreational and medical use should be legal. Eight states have now legalized it for recreational use and 30 have allowed medical use, and these numbers are expected to rise, so the NFL should allow the use of it for medical purposes. This needs to happen because many NFL players are going through too much pain, and there are studies being done that show the benefits of marijuana. A lot of these benefits do not even connect to the discomfort of the players, such as marijuana controlling seizures, it can improve lung health, and can stop cancer cells from spreading. Although marijuana is illegal in some places and is a drug, NFL players should be allowed to use it

They are using alcohol, over-the-counter anti-inflammatories, and painkillers. According to one study, where it surveyed 644 retired NFL players, it found that retired NFL players use opioids at four times the rate of the general population. The study found that over half of the retired NFL players used opioids during their NFL career with almost three fourths of the opioid users saying they misused them. Also, about 15% of the misusers still currently misuse them, which was found to be four times the rate of the general population (Maese). Misuse of opioids is a very serious health problem because it can lead to physical and mental damage and even death. Basically players who misused during their NFL career are more likely to misuse currently compared to others, and the players who currently misuse are associated with more NFL pain, undiagnosed concussions and heavy drinking. Another review of 39 studies which investigated the effectiveness of using opiates for chronic pain found that there's little evidence of benefit for treating long-term pain with opioids, but there is a risk of harm. We should really take a good look at this, as opiate painkillers, the ones prescribed in by the NFL, kill over 15,000 people a year, but no death from a marijuana overdose has been reported

One NFL vet, Ebenezer Ekuban, said “Every day, I wake up in pain, from my ankles to my neck.” He retired 10 years back and still wakes up with pain. It just shows what these players go through. Another player, Eugene Monroe, said “It’s part of the territory. I know what I signed up for. This pain is never going away. My body is damaged.” He was the first active player to publicly state that the league should permit medical marijuana. He then stated “I have to manage it somehow. Managing it with pills was slowly killing me. Now I’m able to function and be extremely efficient by figuring out how to use different formulations of cannabis” (Maese). Again, this just shows how marijuana is helping these players and how it is more effective than other options. Also, there actually is some evidence that marijuana can help heal the brain after a concussion or other traumatic injury. Marijuana also can reduce aching, reduce inflammation, and promote sleep (Loria). With these benefits the NFL should be actively trying to make this happen, but instead they are not doing anything. One player, Josh Gordon, used marijuana and received a year-long suspension for multiple violations of the league's marijuana ban, while Ravens running back, Ray Rice, was charged with assault for beating his fiancee, his suspension from the league was only two games (Ingraham). This just