For Ole Miss Offensive Tackle Laremy Tunsil, Thursday, April 29 was set to be one of the biggest nights of his life. Tunsil was predicted by many to be the first pick of the 2016 NFL Draft. Mel Kiper’s goofy haircut had spoken, and Tunsil was deemed the cream of the 2016 crop. Tunsil certainly looks the part of a dominant NFL Tackle; he stands at a towering 6 feet 5 inches and weighs 315 pounds. Hours before the Los Angeles Rams were slated to make Tunsil a very happy, wealthy man, a video surfaced on his Twitter feed of Tunsil using a bong face mask apparatus to smoke what was presumably marijuana. The Internet—as it often does—exploded in a wildfire of tweets and Facebook updates, which were followed by a series of executive phone calls between important men in suits that led to Tunsil dropping to the 13th overall pick to the Miami Dolphins.
Tunsil is the latest NFL player to get caught up in an incident involving marijuana, and Tunsil’s treatment by the media and the NFL necessitates a closer look at marijuana in the NFL and the archaic mindset that the league is attempting to enforce in a country that is striding, or perhaps shuffling absentmindedly, towards a future where marijuana is not a banned substance. As Roger Goodell continues to enforce a middle school principal type policy on marijuana, NFL players are suffering as a result. These athletes deserve the chance to gain some autonomy of choice from the economic behemoth that is the National Football League.
The NFL’s substance abuse policy includes a laundry list of banned substances. Many of the substances that the NFL tests for are anabolic steroids and other related performance-enhancing supplements. Along with a banned substances list, the NFL enforces a drug abuse policy that includes marijuana, opiates, amphetamines, cocaine, and MDMA. Alcohol is not a banned substance unless the player is part of a recovery program. As marijuana becomes more commonplace, or at least more visible, across the nation, the number of substance abuse violations in the NFL continues to increase. Fines that have been handed down by Goodell have piled up for players in recent years.
According to data compiled by spotrac.com, players from the Miami Dolphins, Cleveland Browns, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Cincinatti Bengals have each collected enough fines to total over $1 million for each team. NFL players are compensated an average of $1.9 million per year. However, these fines become a more significant figure when the average NFL career of 3.3 years is factored in. According to research that is beginning to gain more prominence on a national scale, compound in marijuana known as cannabinoids have the ability to treat the symptoms of concussions. As the medicinal benefits of marijuana become more widely accepted, it would be foolish for Goodell and the NFL to continue to ban marijuana use among its employees. On any given Sunday during the NFL season, players are putting their mental well-being and long-term health on the line, and they should be able to use marijuana to cope with the side effects of brutal blows to their brains.
One of the most well-respected voices calling for cannabis use among NFL players is Harvard Professor Emeritus Lester Grinspoon. Grinspoon penned an open letter to Goodell on Feb. 27, 2014 that urged the commissioner to allow cannabis use among athletes because, as Grinspoon writes, “Already, many doctors and researchers believe that marijuana has incredibly powerful neuroprotective properties, an understanding based on both laboratory and clinical data.” If marijuana has any ability whatsoever to combat the debilitating effects that football has for many retired and current NFL players, it needs to be welcomed with open arms. On top of its medicinal qualities, marijuana is in no way a performance-enhancing substance for a sport that requires quick movements and laser-sharp focus. At this point, the only plausible explanation for why the NFL has not legalized the use of medical marijuana for players is the long-standing societal bias against this drug. The conditions that the NFL exists in are no fault of its own, but now is a time that the NFL could become a catalyst for changing the national opinion on marijuana, and ultimately standing on the right side of history.
The financial consequences of marijuana use are substantial, but beyond fines there have been some high profile suspensions around marijuana that have needlessly ended the careers of potential NFL stars. Ricky Williams was pushed out of the league for repeated substance abuse policies, Josh Gordon of the Cleveland Browns is hanging by a thread to his NFL career and would be suspended for at least a year if he violates Goodell’s rules one more time. In light of the medicinal benefits of marijuana, it is high time that the NFL considers the health of its players and legalizes the use of medical marijuana for its players. For Tunsil and his fellow marijuana users, or future users in the 2016 NFL Draft, this change in policy needs to come immediately in order to avoid their careers bursting into smoke a la Ricky Williams and Josh Gordon.