The NFL Should Legalize Marijuana: Why fans need to get outraged about this topic

 The NFL does not do what is in the best interest of players health

The best case for the stupidity of the NFL is the case of Seantrel Henderson who has Crohn’s disease and uses marijuana to deal with the pain resulting from the illness and two intestinal surgeries. As his agent, Brian Fettner said after his first suspension, “There is zero allowable medical exemption for this per the NFL; however, there clearly should be.”

A source added after the second suspension, “He needs cannabis. You can’t take pain killers with the way his intestines are.” So, the NFL back in 2016 suspended Henderson for ten games because of this.

One reason for continuing cannabis prohibition was recently offered up by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who claimed that cannabis has “no medical value.” Keep in mind that the Commissioner pointed out at the time CTE wasn’t caused by head trauma. The stance taken by Mr. Goodell is not only inaccurate, it is also harmful since it damages the constructive conversation surrounding cannabis and the players’ health. Cannabis absolutely has medical value and could do a lot to help suffering NFL players, but Mr. Goodell has never really cared about suffering players, he is only worried about keeping his job and making the NFL as big a profit as he can. Cannabis has been the subject of more studies than hydrocodone, toradol, and Tylenol, combined. Those are three substances that the NFL widely embraces.

While different strains of Marijuana have different effects, the right strain can help a player much more than hydrocodone and hydrocodone is highly addictive and has a large number of negative side effects. CBD and Marijuana have great potential to help NFL players medically. Let us take a closer look at THC and CBD and what they have been proven to do when used medicinally.

1. Delta 9 THC has it’s own medical benefits, as does CBD. They both have their place. It’s CBD’s cousin D9 THC (the compound that makes you high) that eases nausea, vomiting and gives the patient an appetite after chemo. Bonus is, it makes you happy, raised mood, fights inflammation, and is a natural and powerful pain reliever/muscle relaxant. Not to mention it fights seizures. It’s also THC that saves the brain from repetitive damage/concussions and would probably stop CTE in its track. A win for cancer patients and football players. THC also limits the protein build-up that causes Alzheimer’s. This has been proven, hence the GOV’s patent on THC as a neuroprotectant. Look it up. This is why the synthetic drug Marinol derived from THC was produced for cancer patients, too.

2. Cannabis works better by way of what’s called “the entourage effect”, meaning all compounds of cannabis work better together–THC, CBD, Terpenes, CBN, and CBC!

3. I talked to a retired military vet who left after 15 yrs of service and the VA thought that 16 different pills a day was good for him. You know the ole opioid, muscle relaxer, antipsychotic, anti-anxiety pills. You know, a pill to cover the side effect of the other pill. Well, it was cannabis that gave him his life back. Not the 16 pills from the federal government.

4. Lastly, if cannabis made you lazy then odds are you were already lazy and it just added to it.

The hypocrisy of alcohol

The NFL gladly accepts advertising dollars from the alcohol industry, and I mean a lot of advertising dollars, with one six-year deal with Bud Light being worth $1.4 billion dollars alone. A big reason that the NFL also points to as justification for continuing cannabis prohibition is that it is being done “for the health of the players.” But if you consider the fact that cannabis has been proven to be 114 times safer than alcohol, and that alcohol is embraced while cannabis is prohibited, it’s easy to see that the NFL’s current stance is incredibly hypocritical. People die at an alarming rate in this country because of alcohol, whether it is alcoholism, car accidents, the list could go on and on. Marijuana deaths are almost non-existent.

The NFL argument is always the standard “what about the kids?”, which is laughable when a substance that kills 88,000 people annually is allowed to be one of their biggest sponsors! That is the madness of a big corporation that is out of control.

If the NFL truly believes marijuana is such a bad thing, why test once a year?

If the NFL truly believes that marijuana endangers its players, why would it only test for it once a year, on a prearranged date, in a way that allows players to beat the test? Basically, to get “caught” on a drug test you have to be an absolute idiot! So if Daddy Goodell thinks it’s so bad why doesn’t he do more about it? Because in the end, this is all a big show where the NFL acts as if it cares about players and fans but they really do not.  The lack of pension and healthcare for former players shows you what the NFL owners really think of the men that played in the past and built those owners billion-dollar empires. When you add it altogether it adds up to the NFL has no real concern for players once they are done. The NFL casts them aside and brings in “new blood” to use.

The case of Kyle Turley

These are the words of Kyle Turley: “During my NFL career I became reliant on pain killers and endured a 20-year struggle with depression, anxiety and rage. I was diagnosed with CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy) due to the 100-plus concussions I endured during my time in the NFL. I began a downward spiral of pharmaceutical addiction, violent thoughts and suicidal tendencies. Medical Marijuana literally saved my life. Without it I would not be here today. I would not have my family, my kids, my house, everything I have right now, if not for cannabis. Period”.

It is time that the NFL does something to help players before they retire and are still playing to try to fight off the plague of CTE that is enveloping the NFL. They owe it to the players and the fans owe it to the players to create a groundswell of support that Gestapo Goodell will have to respond to! It took a movie to wake the NFL up with the CTE problem and when fans started to be disgusted by it the NFL all of the sudden acted as it cared. This is another case where this needs to happen.

Tyreek Hill is ok, but not Marijuana?

As I was finishing this article up the Tyreek Hill news broke, and unsurprisingly it fits into this article. Hill was accused of child abuse. While the evidence regarding allegations of child abuse or child endangerment, if any, apparently was inconclusive at best, the threat made by Hill to Espinal was documented, and Hill’s own lawyer admitted that Hill said what he said. Indeed, Hill’s lawyer called the comment “unacceptable” and “inexcusable, of course” in a letter sent to the NFL in early May. What did you he say you might ask? “You need to be terrified of me too, bitch,” Hill said to Crystal Espinal during an argument regarding whether Hill’s young son respects Hill or is terrified of him. Good thing he wasn’t smoking weed when he said it or the NFL would have suspended him!

The Judge in the case said that he felt something happened in the child abuse allegation but not enough evidence to convict either one and that’s fine, but how can you act as nothing happened? Of course in the NFL Tom Brady can be suspended 4 games for deflated balls even though there was no evidence to suspend him. The NFL needs fans to stand up and say enough is enough, but we all know how this works, don’t we? The first time Tyreek Hill scores a Touchdown he will get a standing ovation in Kansas City.

Just remember while you are applauding the kind of man you are cheering for! It’s time for the NFL to step up!