The drama of this year’s Super Bowl goes well beyond the field and up the ranks of organized football. As though having the league’s most charismatic team take on its most hated wasn’t epic enough, the championship match-up is a metaphor for a much larger argument taking place within the NFL.

It’s the crowning game of one of the NFL’s most tumultuous years, with a chain of scandals coming to a head that reveal mass human tragedy inside the league, casting uncertainty on the future of football as a whole. The concussion crisis puts a fine point on the inherent danger of the game, and the league’s ineffective treatment of injured players continues to exacerbate the prescription drug abuse epidemic. In trying to control substance abuse with rigorous drug testing for players, the NFL came under fire for incongruently punishing marijuana users worse than wife-beaters at a time when domestic violence accounts for more than half of all player arrests. The most striking was Josh Gordon’s one-year ban for marijuana, compared to Ray Rice’s two-game suspension for knocking out his fiancee (although both punishments were subsequently reduced and lengthened respectively). And there’s evidence that such violent behavior may stem from repeated concussions. Each finding draws further connections to a common root cause of the NFL’s varied woes — the denial that football is an increasingly unsustainable sport for players’ health.

As the NFL walks the gauntlet of bad press and worse public scrutiny, a growing number of voices point to an obvious singular solution to these problems — medical marijuana. Research shows that cannabis can reduce the severity of concussions and is a safe and non-addictive alternative to opiates for pain management. If the league were ever to allow team doctors to treat players with cannabis, it would mean fewer addictions, fewer brain injuries (and thereby less violent behavior resulting from brain injuries), and of course, no unreasonable penalties for players who choose to use cannabis. Furthermore, it would demonstrate that the NFL prioritizes players’ long-term health over short-term effectiveness. While the NFL has slightly increased the acceptable threshold for marijuana and reduced penalties under their new substance policy, it’s still prohibited and can earn players time in a rehab program, fines, and suspensions. It remains far off from being an accepted medication.



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Despite league policies, NFL players continue self-medicate with cannabis in speculatively large numbers. “I’d say, conservatively, that 50 to 60% of players use cannabis,” former Vikings punter Chris Kluwe told the Guardian. His estimate echoes Redskins free safety Ryan Clark (then with the Steelers) who told ESPN’s First Take that at least half the players in the league use cannabis as an alternative to painkillers. “Guys look at this as a more natural way to heal themselves,” Clark said, though he denied using it himself. Former player and current ESPN analyst Lomas Brown made the same estimate in 2012. As medical and recreational marijuana legalization continue to spread throughout the states, that number is bound to go up.

The NFL hinted at acquiescing on medical marijuana for players a year ago, with commissioner Roger Goodell saying that they’d follow the guidance of their medical experts if they deemed it an appropriate treatment, but that those experts “are not saying that right now”. That statement came after a record year for drug suspensions in the NFL, reaching 29, nearly three times the previous highest number under Goodell’s tenure since 2006. At the outset of the 2014 season, NFL spokesman Greg Aiello told this reporter in an email (in the context of a previous article on this issue), “We’ve utilized experts on substance abuse disorders and addiction and we ask them to make recommendations and to date they haven’t recommended any change … If the science shows it and there is a rigorous process in place to determine that the only drug that could help is medical marijuana, then we would consider allowing it in necessary cases.” Four months later, the 2014 season closed with 37 drug-related player suspensions. A week before this year’s Super Bowl, three former players (and Super Bowl champions) published an article on Huffington Post calling for the NFL to ease their marijuana policy. Based on the league’s past treatment of the issue, it won’t elicit a response. If the NFL is to budge on this issue at all, they’ll do so very, very slowly.

And yet the crises rage on. Though there has been a decrease in overall concussions since Frontline began tracking them, a continued increase may be unaccounted for due to under-reporting within the league. With the NFL having just settled a major lawsuit from more than 4,500 former players over handling of concussions, and recently having a lawsuit over pharmaceutical overprescription dismissed by a federal judge, it’s no surprise that the organization is actively downplaying the prevalence of either issue to avoid future cases against them. This has only drawn more attention to the problem. The drug lawsuit prompted a federal investigation by the DEA into team medical practices, which has yet to turn up results. Last month, a Vice report found that several NFL team doctors employed the services of an unlicensed pharmaceutical provider that illegally supplied painkillers and other drugs without officially documenting them. No reprimands have been handed down for such infractions and teams continue to dole pills out to players in order to keep them in play despite what they’re pain is trying to tell them. As Kluwe puts it, “Team doctors answer to the team, not necessarily to the players.”

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At the center of this issue is the value of a player’s health. As the sport has become more physically punishing, NFL protocol appears to many to preserve a high level of action instead of the athletes engaged in that action. The players are left to fend for themselves against a system that takes their wellbeing for granted, from the NFL’s policymakers to the team staff on the sidelines.

One coach stands apart from the trend. Pete Carroll, head coach of the Seattle Seahawks, employs the unorthodox managerial method of unbridled positivity — prioritizing player safety and team morale, encouraging his men even when they screw up, and fostering respect towards opponents instead of aggression. Thus far with the Seahawks, Carroll’s style has won him a championship, a shot at a second one, and the adoration of players on his team and off. Following last year’s Super Bowl win, an ESPN poll found that 23% of players surveyed from across the league would like to play for him over any other coach. And his current players openly love him even during the tense period between conference final and championship game.

Along with his progressive views, Carroll has said medical marijuana use should be allowed by the NFL if it benefits players. Before last year’s Super Bowl, Carroll stated, “Regardless of what other stigmas may be involved, I think we have to do this because the world of medicine is trying to do the exact same thing and figure it out and they’re coming to some conclusions.” As a winning coach from a state with legalised marijuana, Carroll’s acknowledgement of its medical efficacy is meaningful.

“I highly doubt that Pete Carroll actively smokes pot,” Spike Friedman, sports editor for the Seattle Stranger, told the Guardian. “But in his locker room there is a manner of trying to stay open to the individuals on the team, pushing yoga and meditation … He is the most West Coast football coach you can imagine, or even produce in a lab.”

Born and raised in San Francisco, a historically progressive American city, Carroll has only seen substantial success as a head coach on the mellow West Coast. After being fired from coaching positions at two East Coast NFL teams — the New York Jets and the New England Patriots — Carroll returned to the college level and made a legendary run as the head of the USC Trojans. His selection as Seahawks head coach came in 2010 and in three seasons he revived the franchise and delivered its first ever championship in 2014. Now, he’s going for a repeat while fully maintaining the humble principles that he has espoused throughout his career.

Opposing Carroll, on the field and in principle, is Bill Belichick, whose perceived villainy stems from his tough, old school approach, and pulsates with accusations like Spygate, Deflategate, and all forthcoming Gates. Belichick likes to win, and he lacks any fiber of Carroll’s “nice guy” routine when it comes to coaching. He also doesn’t want his players smoking weed, providing the final feature for this year’s Super Bowl to symbolize the battle between a forward-thinking, sustainable NFL and a reckless paradigm that threatens its future.

In a wayward yet compelling way, a win for the Seahawks is a win for weed. And if that’s not enough to win the allegiance of cannabis enthusiasts across the country, they also have a Phish-inspired team chant and a local weed strain named for Marshawn Lynch, which Spike Friedman described as, “Instantly recognizable as excellent.”



