A no brainer, right?
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is one of the leading causes of death worldwide in individuals under the age of 45. Triggered by concussions from car accidents, falls, violent contact sports, explosives or by gunshot and stab wounds, TBI affects 1.7 million Americans annually. It is the most commonly identified cause of epilepsy among adults.
In a Medium Article written by John McDermott, McDermott found that “CBD Might Help the NFL with Its Concussion Problem, Which Might Force It to Solve Its Weed Problem, Too
At the very least, it boxes the league into a corner to admit that medical marijuana might be the best pain reliever it can provide its players.”
If there’s any institution that can provide the money and political clout necessary to pursue the necessary studies into whether CBD is a legitimate CTE treatment, it’s the NFL. But while the NFL has made efforts to reduce the amount and severity of head impacts in football, it’s still reluctant to associate itself with research that acknowledges head impacts lead to long-term neurological defects.
McDermott said, “Essentially, the NFL draws a subtle, and mostly false, distinction between concussions and CTE (even though brain trauma experts say they’re inextricably linked). “They acknowledge they have a concussion issue. They don’t acknowledge that they have a CTE issue,” Nowinski explains.
The Concussion Alliance has been working with athletes, hospitals, researchers, and CBD to give proper care to our sports heroes and their traumatic brain injuries. See full page here
To showcase just some of the research and projects they have been working on:
John Hopkins University is studying active NFL players and cannabis use
In 2016 researchers in the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (Baltimore, Maryland) began recruiting football players on the active roster in the NFL for a study of cannabis versus opioid consumption and “Evaluate how general health (e.g. mood, sleep, stress) relates to cannabinoid and opioid use.” Players supporting the study are Derrick Morgan, Jake Plummer, and Eugene Monroe, who donated $80,000 toward the research. From the Player Research Invitation: “With emerging evidence about both the harms associated with opioid use and potential benefits of cannabinoids for pain and inflammation, some players have called for the NFL to re-evaluate its policy regarding cannabinoid use and the current practices surrounding opioid use. “
“Researchers at Johns Hopkins University and the University of Pennsylvania will join forces to survey about 20 current and 20 former NFL players regarding whether they’ve used CBD, as well as their injury and medical history. Once they get the data the researchers will design a study on how the body processes CBD in an effort to see how much CBD players can safely consume long term.” The research is being led by Dr. Ryan Vandrey, a professor of behavioral pharmacology at Johns Hopkins.
Retired NFL Players have formed the Gridiron Cannabis Coalition
Kyle Turley, a former NFL All-Pro is the leader of the Gridiron Cannabis Coalition. Turley has estimated that at least 50% of players used marijuana when he played.
The Gridiron Cannabis Coalition has the following mission statement:
“The sport of American Football is plagued with multiple ailments and diseases currently void of non-addictive treatments and cures. The GCC is determined to resolve this impasse to allow players and the public option of an organic treatment for injury and illness through Cannabis.”
McDermott ended his article with, “If the NFL doesn’t want to talk about CBD and concussions, that’s fine,” Turley says. “They don’t even need to acknowledge anything. They just need to stop testing players for cannabis, and the players can address this problem themselves.”