Just ahead of the Super Bowl, the National Football League is donating $1 million to cannabis research. The funds will go to the University of California San Diego and the University of Regina in Canada. The NFL is hoping to aid research on pain management and cannabinoid effects on neuroprotective in “elite football players”. It’s also to increase acceptable pain management treatments for NFL players.
My assumption for the reason: the plethora of players promoting its use and leaving the league altogether to pursue cannabis as medicine. The NFL Player’s Association Joint Pain Committee is facilitating research in both the US and Canada. Active players in the NFL will not take place in the study, however.
“The primary aim of this clinical trial is to assess the therapeutic efficacy and adverse effects of [delta-9 THC], cannabidiol (CBD), and combined THC/CBD, compared to placebo, for relief of post-competition soft-tissue injury pain in elite athletes. Elite athletes will vaporize treatments following game-related injuries, with outcomes monitored via remote phone apps.”
– UC San Diego research abstract via the NFL
According to Ganjapreneur, the co-chair of the research committee has already received over 100 proposals from clinicians and researchers. It’s been long known that cannabis can aid in both acute and long-term pain. The interest further proves it.
In the past decade, household names in football have voiced support for cannabis legalization. Most have had to leave the league or take hits to their career; but, representing effective medical cannabis is more important. At the moment, medical cannabis for legal research is exclusively by the University of Mississippi. Considering their legislation feelings, the integrity of said research has been widely questioned.
Still, just last year, the NFL agreed to stop suspending players for positive cannabis tests. Earlier this month, players speculated that 80% of the NFL consumes cannabis. Maybe next week, we’ll be seeing some long-overdue cannabis ads.
