The pain management committee of the NFL and the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) announced recently it will provide $1 million in funding for research into pain management and cannabinoids, according to NFL.com.
This is an interesting move considering the league’s previous stance on marijuana use, and is on the heels of last year’s more lenient position concerning suspension for marijuana; which reduced the testing period from four months to the two weeks at the start of training camp. A new threshold for a positive test was also put in place, raising the allowed amount of THC from 35 nanograms to 150.
This new move towards researching the effects of pain management with CBD and cannabis use is yet another potential sign that the previous firm stance against medical marijuana use may change. The committee announced that up to five grants are expected to be awarded around the end of November.
The NFL’s chief medical officer Dr. Allen Sills told NFL.com that he hopes that the research will answer the question of how using cannabis and CBD to treat pain affects performance in elite athletes.
However, the co-chair of the pain management committee, Dr. Kevin Hill, who is a director of addiction psychiatry at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, told NFL.com that right now the level of interest in the use of medical marijuana far exceeds the level of evidence available.
“There is a need for better information, better science,” Hill told NFL.com. “When we talk about having elite athletes use CBD to treat pain, we want to make sure it’s, No. 1 safe, and No. 2 efficacious. I don’t think we’re at that point yet.”
There’s one Hall-of-Fame player who believes that CBD can replace painkillers for NFL players. Former Denver Broncos running back Terrell Davis founded his own CBD-infused product business, DEFY, after discovering the natural benefits and said he hopes that products like his can help phase out prescription painkillers for professional football players.
According to an Insider article, Davis was taking anti-inflammatories daily, so he was looking for a better alternative.
“It worked on me almost immediately,” Davis told Insider about CBD-infused products. “In days, if not almost immediately, I started to notice the effects of it. I was really impressed with what I was seeing.”
Davis told Insider he created his own brand because he wanted to create a superior product that was backed by science and something that could potentially be used in NFL locker rooms at some point.
With the NFL now exploring the therapeutic benefits of cannabis and related products, Davis and others who believe in the benefits of CBD as a legitimate pain management treatment can remain hopeful.
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