This presentation is a debate outline that I have worked on with a colleague of mine, which succinctly examines how the NFL can respond to recent requests by the NFLPA to permit medical marijuana use for pain-reduction purposes. (Presentation has to be presented in slideshow mode in order to be viewed clearly).

1. Omar Dweik & Kristen Bandos
GU – Sports Leadership & Management
Final Project
NFL’s STANCE
AGAINST
MARIJUANA

2. Thesis
Governing bodies in sports must act in the stakeholders’
best interests, all while protecting the integrity of the
sport in the public eye.
Hence, we (the NFL) cannot permit marijuana use at the
time being because 1) it is not legalized at the federal
level, 2) permitting it would lead to double-standards, 3)
of medical/abuse concerns, 4) we (the NFL) would rather
shift from pain-reduction to pain-treatment practices.

3. Respect
Federal Law

4. FEDER
AL
STATE
• Medical marijuana in the U.S. is controlled
at the state level.
• Per federal law, cannabis is illegal as
noted in the Controlled Substances Act.
• Marijuana/Cannabis is listed as a
Schedule I drug.
• The NFL will not bypass federal law.

5. Double-
Standards
• 25% of the franchises are situated in
states where marijuana has not been
legalized.
• At any given moment this number may
increase as franchises might relocate from
one state to another.
• The NFL is ethically obligated to set a
unified standard that is realistic and could
be applied to all franchises.

6. • Football players are seen as role-models; the NFL
fears the emergence of a ‘high’ culture (especially
with the evolution of social media).
• From a medical standpoint, there is a lack of
longitudinal studies.
• The NFL fears players’ abuse of the drug.
• Evidence suggests marijuana raises blood pressure (in
some cases) and heart rate, which reduces the blood’s
capacity to carry oxygen (thus inhibiting recovery as
oxygenated blood is restrained).
• Smoking marijuana is harmful for the lungs.
• As for ingesting cannabis, little research has evaluated
how ingestion differs from other methods of cannabis
administration in terms of therapeutic efficacy,
subjective effects, and safety.
Medical/Societal
Concerns

7. • Other contact sports (most notably rugby
and hockey) do not permit marijuana use.
• NFLPA must work with the NFL to adopt
substantially better policies instead of
seeking out alternatives that are not
clearly less harmful.
Pain-
Reduction Pain-
Treatment
Adopt Only Substantially
Better
Policies/Alternatives

8. Hanns & Chip,
Be prepared.
Best,
Goodell