Tom Pelissero

USA TODAY Sports

PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh Steelers guard Ramon Foster says he needs “higher clearance” to discuss the NFL Players Association’s nascent committee on pain management, which will study, among other things, possible uses for marijuana as an alternative to painkillers.

But when it comes to possible amendments to the collectively bargained substance abuse policy’s stance on marijuana as more states legalize it for recreational and medical use, Foster is willing to make his position clear: Something can be done.

“If I can stop a guy from using opioids or any other type of drug that inhibits him or makes him an addict, I would rather that guy smoke marijuana than to be on something that’s a cousin to heroin,” said Foster, who’s the Steelers union representative.

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“That’s how I feel about it. And you have guys that say, yes, this makes me feel better. And not just your regular guy that’s from the inner city. You have suburban guys, or guys standing up in a deer stand on Saturdays hunting. This is a universal thing.”

Foster said medical marijuana came up in bargaining before the current drug policy was ratified in September 2014, with a slower disciplinary scale for offenses involving marijuana than other drugs. But Foster said the union didn’t push for it, and he acknowledged issues standing in the way of marijuana reform at the league level, including federal laws on the drug.

Still, Foster has a lot of issues with the existing policy, starting with the reality players who aren’t in the drug program need only to pass one test in the offseason, giving the impression nobody really cares if players smoke weed as long as they’re smart enough to not get caught.

“NFLPA alerts guys on March 20th: ‘Guys, you’re 30 days away from when they can test you for street drugs,’” Foster said. “Say I got my test — this year, I got my test on 4/20. If I wanted to, I can indulge for the rest of the year until next year on March 20th. They know that.

“Everybody know it’s not taboo anymore. If it’s proven and a guy’s not being a degenerate or being reckless in what he’s doing, driving around with it, and it helps take away from the opioid use, why not? Why have a guy taking 97 pills a day? That’s insane. If you want to really help the guys, consider it. Talk about it. At least bring it to the forefront. No, we’re not trying to make guys druggies or anything like that. But there’s (potentially) help in that.”

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Foster also takes issue with players banished for repeated failed drug tests — as Steelers receiver Martavis Bryant is this season — not being allowed around the team, though the league has bent that rule in some recent cases. One of Bryant’s agents, Brian Fettner, told USA TODAY Sports in March his client smoked to help him with depression.

“We’re a league that wants to evolve and help the player, push the player, put the players on the platform,” Foster said. “Martavis — he can be a superstar in this league. But we can help that guy by also helping him help himself. Are we helping him by taking away all his money for the year? Same with (banished Cleveland Browns receiver) Josh Gordon. Is that really helping?”

Another Steelers star, running back Le’Veon Bell, served a three-game suspension to start this season for what he claimed were three missed drug tests. Bell also served a two-game suspension in 2015 following an arrest for DUI and marijuana possession the previous August.

NFLPA spokesman George Atallah confirmed a report from The Washington Post that the union is forming a pain management committee, which Atallah said will be made up of current and former players and people in the scientific and medical communities. The committee will “look at the issue of chronic pain that plagues our membership,” Atallah said. “Marijuana will be one substance that we will look at in the context of this chronic pain issue.”

League spokesman Brian McCarthy told USA TODAY Sports in a statement Wednesday that the league is working with medical advisors who are “constantly reviewing and relying on the most current research and scientific data.”

“We continue to follow the advice of leading experts on treatment, pain management and other symptoms associated with concussions and other injuries,” the statement said. “However, medical experts have not recommended making a change or revisiting our collectively-bargained policy and approach related to marijuana, and our position on its use remains consistent with federal law and workplace policies across the country."

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Steelers defensive end Cameron Heyward, an alternate NFLPA rep, categorized the union’s research into the subject as “due diligence. They wouldn’t be doing it if they didn’t think it was something. But we’ve got to find scientific backing behind it.”

Foster said he has no problem with punishment for players who break the law, for things such as marijuana possession in a state where it’s not legal. But with a quarter of the league’s teams now playing in states where it’s legal for recreational use and dozens of states approving it for medical purposes, Foster hopes a reasonable discussion can occur about changes.

“Would you rather have somebody that smokes occasionally or someone that, when you take that away from him, you have the guy that’s downing a fifth of Hennessy every night, or Tito’s Vodka. Is that what you want?” Foster said. “Would you rather have somebody that smokes marijuana at home, don’t go anywhere, or would you rather have the guy at the bar taking shots after shots? Why?

“Think about the help processes. And I know it’s not perfect. The league’s not perfect, the union’s not perfect. But if we know there are certain things that guys can use to help with information, help with sleep, help with pain that’s not going to have them addicted, why not?”

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