Recently the National Football League (NFL) and the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) offered together over 1 million dollars as grant to fund research related to CBD and pain management. The NFL’s chief medical officer stated that the league is interested in investigating CBD as alternative to opioid-treatment for players injuries. The mode of action and safety of CBD usage against pain will be the focus of these researches: NFL is open to improve players quality of life without affecting the sport performance.
In the past many NFL players were suspended for cannabis use. Last year the rules regarding cannabis consumption were loosen and football players could be tested only in a period of two weeks during the year. The change of NFL general interests regarding cannabis and plant derived CBD for pain treatment could lead to an incredible increase in cannabis industry and even regulations revisions. The main concerns are related to liver toxicity associated to CBD doses addressing pain and interactions with other medicaments. Even if cannabis and CBD for pain treatment are already widely used among citizens, NFL wants evidences: investing in scientific research will be undoubtedly the best method to find out insights related to pain management activity of this valuable plant and derived molecule.
References:
[1] https://canex.co.uk/nfl-nflpa-medical-cananbis-cbd-pain-management/ [2] https://chicago.suntimes.com/bears/2021/6/8/22524917/nfl-cannabis-cbd-pain-management-1-million-dollars-research-allen-sills-marijuana-player-opiod-nflpa
