Report: NFL Would Consider Letting Players Use Medical Marijuana
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- We know that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is all about player safety.
And according to USA Today, the NFL would consider letting players use medical marijuana in an effort to treat concussions and head injuries if it were deemed necessary.
"I'm not a medical expert," Goodell said, according to the newspaper. "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."
"Illegal use" of marijuana is currently not allowed by the league, per the NFL's collective bargaining agreement.
"The NFL's policy is collectively bargained and will continue to apply in the same manner it has for decades," NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said in November of 2012. "Marijuana remains prohibited under the NFL substance abuse program."
It looks like that might change sooner rather than later.
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