Report: NFL Would Consider Letting Players Use Medical Marijuana

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell says it may make sense to let players use medical marijuana for concussions and head injuries. He says,  “We will obviously follow signs. We will follow medicine and if they determine this could be a proper usage in any context, we will consider that. Our medical experts are not saying that right now.”

Medical marijuana is currently legal in 20 states and in Washington, D.C. The only two states where marijuana is legal for recreational use, coincidentally, are Washington and Colorado — the home states of the Seahawks and Broncos, who will duke it out in Super Bowl XLVIII.

On Tuesday, HBO’s “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” reported that approximately 50-60 percent of National Football League players smoke marijuana. The report said that many players use the drug to deal with pain.

“Not only are we going to get better at diagnosis, but we’re going to make a difference in the prognosis and the treatment,” Goodell said in regard to concussions, according to USA Today. “People are going to get better.”

By: Cheston Catalano

Cheston Catalano is a Kentucky-based journalist whose work has been featured in the Chattanooga Times Free Press and the Clarksville Leaf Chronicle. He is a long-time contributor to Liberaland.