Super Bowl Champ: CBD Can Solve NFL's Opioid Problem
*By Jacqueline Corba*
CBD has the potential to combat two of the biggest health issues plaguing former NFL athletes: CTE and opioid abuse.
That's according to former NFL player and Super Bowl champion Marvin Washington, who is calling on the league to introduce a medical marijuana program.
"If we don't get our hands around this opioid addiction, we are going to lose a generation," Washington told Cheddar's CannaBiz Tuesday. "I believe CBD is a neural protectant for the brain and, as pain management, will go a long way in stopping this epidemic that we have."
Former NFL players trying to manage chronic pain use opioid drugs in retirement four times more than the general population, [according to a 2011 study.](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3095672/) Cannabis could be a potential substitute. There's also new evidence it could [help the treatment of CTE,] (https://www.si.com/nfl/2016/07/12/cannabis-cte-treatment-kannalife) a degenerative disease linked to repetitive brain trauma.
Washington's calls for action come even as broad medical marijuana research faces hurdles. Cannabis remains a Schedule I drug under the [Controlled Substance Act,](https://www.dea.gov/druginfo/ds.shtml) putting it in the same category as heroin, LSD, and ecstasy.
And while 29 states and Washington, D.C., have legalized medical use of the substance, the Food and Drug Administration had only approved two treatments made from synthetic versions of marijuana ingredients.
That changed this week when the [agency granted its first approval to a medication that contains a pure derivative of cannabis.](https://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm611046.htm) Epidiolex, a CBD oral solution manufactured by the UK's GW Pharmaceuticals, can now be used to treat two severe and rare forms of epilepsy.
"This approval serves as a reminder that advancing sound development programs that properly evaluate active ingredients contained in marijuana can lead to important medical therapies," FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb said in a statement Monday.
The FDA will review more applications for CBD treatments, and Gottlieb said the agency will continue to support research on other potential medical uses for marijuana-derived products.
That could open up a big door.
"Due to federal illegality there hasn't been a lot of substantive research in this area," legal expert Lauren Estevez told Cheddar Tuesday. "So this is something that can be really unpacked over the next few years."
CBD, a chemical component of the Cannabis sativa plant, is legal in the states that have approved medical or recreational marijuana, and there's also some form of legalized CBD in seventeen other states.
Washington, who competed in the NFL for 11 years and won his Super Bowl ring, perhaps appropriately, with the Denver Broncos in 1999, predicts the league will introduce a sensible medical cannabis program in 2020 when the Collective Bargain Agreement is up.
"I think this is going to be player-driven, this is going to be a grass roots type of movement to get cannabis, hemp, and CBD, and all the medicinal benefits of this plan into the NFL," said Washington.
For the full segment, [click here.](https://cheddar.com/videos/former-nfl-player-marvin-washington-on-cbd-for-pain-relief)
Big Brothers Big Sisters of America has been a driving force for youth mentorship since 1904. The nonprofit organization is launching its annual Big Draft campaign this month in partnership with the NFL, and Artis Stevens, the first Black CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, joined Cheddar to discuss the push for adding more "Bigs" as mentors on his one-year anniversary leading the non-profit organization. "While the NFL is recruiting and drafting more players, they're also helping us to draft more mentors and, particularly, men all the way from across February to all the way to April of this year," Stevens explained.
On this episode of Cheddar Reveals, Jim Riordan, Director of the MBA Sport Management program at Florida Atlantic University, breaks down the successes, failures, and chaos of the first seven months of the Name, Image, Likeness policy in college athletics; Adi Kunalic, President of Opendorse, discusses the first-ever association-wide deal in college athletics between Opendorse and the NAIA, and how Opendorse is marketing and educating student-athletes to make the most of their NIL deal potential; Cheddar gets a look at Curiosity Stream's 'Predicting a Pro'.
Jim Riordan, Director of the MBA Sport Management program at Florida Atlantic University, joins Cheddar Reveals to break down the successes, failures, and chaos of the first seven months of the Name, Image, Likeness policy in college athletics.
Adi Kunalic, President of Opendorse, joins Cheddar Reveals to discuss the first-ever association-wide deal in college athletics between Opendorse and the NAIA, and how Opendorse is marketing and educating student-athletes to make the most of their NIL deal potential.
With the Beijing Winter Olympics set to get underway on Friday, Dan Wolken, a national columnist for USA Today, joined Cheddar News to break down the big storylines as the pandemic and international conflicts threaten to cast a cloud over the event that is aspirationally seen as a beacon of international cooperation. Wolken noted specific issues over cybersecurity for visiting athletes and disputes over human rights leading to a diplomatic boycott have been making waves even before the opening ceremony. "So you've got sort of these barbs going back and forth already between the Americans and the Chinese, and things haven't even started yet," he said. "We don't even know what's going to happen once the games start and people actually start winning medals."
We are a week away from the 2022 Beijing Olympics, and China has already faced a host of problems leading up to the opening ceremony of the Beijing games. DJ Peterson, president of Longview Global Advisors, joins Cheddar News to discuss the many concerns and controversies surrounding the event.
The Los Angeles Rams and the Cincinnati Bengals will be the two teams competing at Super Bowl LVI after both survived their respective nail-biting conference championships. The Big Game will be held at the SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, home of the Rams, potentially granting them a home-field advantage. Frank Schwab, a sportswriter for Yahoo Sports, joined Cheddar to discuss what bettors should be looking for at this year’s NFL finale. "Super Bowl, unlike any other game on the NFL schedule, where if people bet once a year, it's going to be on the Super Bowl, especially with so many states having legal betting now," Schwab said.
It's a big weekend for sports betting, with the NFL conference championships and Australian Open finals expected to bring the industry even more traffic. And if record viewership of the divisional playoff game between the Chiefs and Bills was any indication, sports betting will only continue to grow as football season comes to an end. Joe Raineri, sports betting analyst at SportsGrid, joined Cheddar to discuss how these sporting events could impact the industry, which is expected to get even bigger in 2022.
Trysta Krick breaks down the Bengals-Chiefs matchup while Lester Ricard Jr. dissects what will be the third meeting of the season for the 49ers and Rams. Meanwhile, on the hardwood, Brian Bennett says that college basketball bettors should focus on a team's road wins as an early indicator for success in March.
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