National Football League announced earlier this month that it will be awarding $1 million to fund the research on whether cannabinoids can be useful in pain management and neuroprotection in elite football. The funding will be divided between researchers at the University of California San Diego and the University of Regina.
Last year in June, the NFL-NFLPA Joint Pain Management Committee put forward a request fr a research proposal to identify the uses of cannabinoids in pain management for the players. The proposal resulted in 106 submissions of which the two facilities were chosen by the NFL Research and Innovation Committee.
One of the studies, titled "Effects of Cannabinoids on Pain and Recovery from Sports-Related Injuries in Elite Athletes: A Randomized Clinical Trial", will be led by Drs. Thomas Marcotte and Mark Wallace at the University of California San Diego. The researchers will aim to study the effects of ?-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), cannabidiol (CBD), and combined THC/CBD in the management of post-competition soft-tissue injury. The researchers hope to make use of the opportunity to develop detailed literature about the efficacy of cannabis in the management of pain in athletes.
The other research program, led by Dr. J. Patrick Neary at the University of Regina, is named, "Naturally Produced Cannabinoids for Pain Management and Neuroprotection from Concussion and Participation in Contact Sports". This research wil focus at the usability of cannabis-derived products to limit the usage of prescribed opioids in the field of pain management.
Dr. Allen Sills, the Chief Medical Officer of the NFL, said, "As with the league's broader approach to health and safety, we want to ensure that our players are receiving care that reflects the most up-to-date medical consensus. While the burden of proof is high for NFL players who want to understand the impact of any medical decision on their performance, we are grateful that we have the opportunity to fund these scientifically-sound studies on the use of cannabinoids that may lead to the discovery of data-based evidence that could impact the pain management of our players."
Dr. Kevin Hill, Co-Chair, NFL-NFLPA Joint Pain Management Committee, Director of Addiction Psychiatry at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, said, "The NFL is eager to advance the science of pain management and performance in an effort to improve the health and safety of the players."
Former All-Pro kicker, Nick Lowery, sounded his support for the move. "The NFL and Player's Association are embracing this, and we can only do more to protect the next generation of athletes and life athletes as well," said the Kansas City Chiefs Hall of Famer.
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