DEA investigating prescription drug distribution in the NFL

Written by Matthew Cannata
It’s never a good sign when the Drug Enforcement Administration is investigating something. It makes matters much worse when you’re the most popular sport in America.

That’s what is happening in the NFL locker rooms throughout the nation as they are the focus of a federal investigation into abuse of prescription medication.

According to the New York Daily News, agents from New York’s DEA division are talking to former players about how NFL doctors and trainers treat players with drugs like Percodan, Vicodin and Toradol. Players have claimed that they were given these drugs by their team’s medical staff. According to a source who spoke to the paper, they want to find out who provided and distributed the drugs to football players.

The DEA’s investigation began shortly after attorneys representing about 1,300 NFL retirees filed a class-action lawsuit in San Francisco federal court on May 20 that accuses the league of illegally providing prescription drugs to keep players on the field without informing them of the long-term risks.

As mentioned above, the fact that the DEA is involved is not a good sign. It will be interesting to see which direction this goes in and what teams may ultimately be implicated. 

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