Pro

Derek Rosenfeld, Manager of Social Media and Media Relations at the Drug Policy Alliance, in a Dec. 7, 2016 article, "End the Ban on Marijuana in Sports," available at drugpolicy.org, stated:

“Marijuana should not be a banned substance in professional sports.

Marijuana is legal for medical use in 28 states and recreational use in 8 states plus Washington D.C. [as of Dec. 7, 2016], yet it is a banned substance in most professional sports and athletes are not allowed to use it. It is time for the sports world to catch up with the times and adopt more rational marijuana policies.

The National Football League (NFL) is the clearest example of a backwards marijuana policy. The NFL ignores the medicinal benefits of marijuana, most notably its ability to treat chronic pain, and that comes with the territory of being a professional football player.

Instead, prescription opioid painkillers are the preferred treatment method… If people are suffering from chronic pain, using marijuana with painkillers can help reduce the amount of painkillers needed, and in some cases people have been able to completely replace their use of painkillers with marijuana. Overdose is an issue being discussed across the country right now and a 2014 study showed that opiate overdoses decreased by a nearly 25% average in states that have implemented medical marijuana laws compared to states that have not…

It’s time for all professional sports leagues to do the socially responsible thing: stop using the playbook and rhetoric from the failed drug war and create more fair marijuana policies.”

Dec. 7, 2016