The NFL will spend up to $1 million funding up to five studies that will examine how to better help players ease their pain and find alternatives to opioids.
Among those potential alternatives: marijuana and other cannabis-derived products.
The league announced its call for research proposals Tuesday. The league and the NFL Players Association formed a joint pain management committee in 2019 to help find alternatives to opioids and give players and league medical staffs information on pain management.
Dr. Allen Sills, the NFL's chief medical officer, said there are a lot of great ideas and important research that need to be funded.
“This is really not an NFL issue or a sports issue,” Sills said. "This is a societal issue, which is how can we better understand and treat pain and what are the alternatives that may be out there for treatment in addition to opioids which have long been used.”
Some retired NFL players, including Nate Jackson and Kyle Turley, have spoken out about their use of marijuana during their time in the league and said it's a better way of managing pain than the drugs prescribed by team doctors. The league prohibits marijuana use by players.
Jeff Miller, the NFL’s executive vice president overseeing player health and safety, said the league’s policy on substance abuse is not changing, with Tuesday’s announcement focused only on proposals and research.
The pain management committee held two forums in 2020 to learn more about cannabidiol science and manufacturing and now wants more information on how cannabinoids not only affect pain but the performance of NFL players.
Dr. Kevin Hill is co-chairman of the joint pain management committee and wrote a book titled “Marijuana: The Unbiased Truth about the World's Most Popular Weed." He said players have been asking about cannabis and cannabidiol CBD. Hill said they've tried to provide the best information on a controversial topic.
“Unfortunately, the level of interest right now far exceeds the level of evidence supporting the use of medical cannabis for pain,” Hill said.
Hill, also director of addiction psychiatry at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, said there are flaws in each of the controlled trials despite some evidence supporting the use of medical cannabis for pain.
“That’s why we put out this request for proposals so that we can collectively with the PA, the players association, move towards finding better treatments for pain. Those treatments may include cannabis, and they may include CBD,” Hill said.
The NFL opened the application process Tuesday. The league wants initial proposals studying how cannabinoids can help players manage pain daily and after surgery, how cannabis or cannabinoids affect players' athletic performance, and how other non-pharmaceutical treatments can benefit players.
Proposals must be submitted by July 31 with the pain management committee paring down submissions for formal presentations. Those will presented in November with a final decision the week of Dec. 6.
On this episode of Cheddar Innovates: President of The Pillow Bar breaks down how everyone can benefit from a pillow customized to their unique way of sleeping; CEO of H2Pro explains how to bring environmentally friendly hydrogen to scale; Cheddar gets a look at Curiosity Stream's 'Suppressed Science.'
On this episode of Cheddar Innovates: Gardenuity CEO breaks down how gardening can improve your wellbeing; Augmedix CEO discusses how this technology is helping doctors fight burnout; Cheddar gets a look at Curiosity Stream's 'Suppressed Science.'
On this episode of Cheddar Innovates: Atom Limbs CEO breaks down how the Atom Touch prosthetic is different from other prosthetics on the market; CEO & Chief Scientific Officer of MyMD explains how the MYMD-1 is on track to be the first FDA-approved drug to treat aging and age-related diseases; A look at Curiosity Stream's 'The Future of Warfare.'
On this episode of Cheddar Innovates: SkilsVR CEO explains how virtual reality is being used to train frontline workers to handle difficult customers; Rubicon CEO breaks down how technology and sustainability will go hand in hand in the future; Cheddar gets a look at 'Our Infinite Universe.'
A UN report is warning that relying on seawalls and other engineering fixes will not be enough to keep communities safe from rising sea levels and climate change consequences. Dr. Steve Rose, a senior research economist at the Electric Power Research Institute, joins Cheddar News to discuss.
As gas prices surge amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, other nations could potentially transition faster to using clean energy than previously expected. Philip K. Verleger, a senior fellow at the Niskanen Center, joined Cheddar News to explain how this could be a possibility in the near future. "Part of the reason I think we have this invasion and the tantrum that's being thrown by Russia, terrible tantrum, is because the Russians were trying to slow down the transition," he said. "Ironically they speeded it up."
As Russia intensifies its war on Ukraine, President Biden announced a ban on oil imported from the aggressor nation. Critics of Russia have said this would be the best way to force Putin to pull back, but curbs on Russian oil exports are expected to send already skyrocketing oil and gas prices even higher, further impacting consumers, businesses, financial markets, and the global economy. Leslie Beyer, CEO of the Energy Workforce and Technology Council, joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss. "It's certainly going to increase pricing, but it is the right thing to do," she said. "The industry itself has already pulled out of the significant portion of its operations in Russia."
On this episode of Cheddar Innovates: Vision Marine Technologies CEO discusses how e-boats will play a role in the fight against the climate crisis; Lasso CEO breaks down how the design behind these compression socks can prevent injuries and improve performance; Cheddar gets a look at Curiosity Stream's 'The Tombs Of Egypt.'
Vaccine maker Pfizer delayed its COVID shot for kids allegedly due to a lack of data on how it would perform against the omnicron variant, according to the Wall Street Journa. Peter Pitts, professor and founder of the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest and a former FDA associate commissioner, joined Cheddar News Wrap to break down why the authorization can't be rushed. "Going forward, the FDA wants to look at data specifically against omicron, and it looks like that's going to be a three-shot regimen versus two, which was efficient against delta but not omicron because obviously omicron is more infectious," said Pitts.
Walker Ross, Assistant Professor of Sports Business Management at Florida Southern College, joins Business of Sports: The Beijing Winter Olympics 2022, where he says that actions Beijing and other Olympic host sites have been implementing to combat climate change has simply not been enough to offset their carbon footprint.
