Whenever Marcus Amos talked to our class about prescription drug abuse he focused mostly on high school and college football. I wandered how these issues were carried on into the NFL and how severe the usage may be for players who are playing for a living?

In an article by The Washington Post the writers, Sally Jenkins and Rick Maese, make it very clear that the NFL has a serious problem with prescription drug abuse. It's really a vicious cycle, because these players feel like they have no choice but to play through the pain, therefore a series of painkillers are administered prior to game day as well as on game day directly before to the game in order to "numb", if you will, the pain they are feeling. This is extremely dangerous because some of these painkillers keep the players from knowing just how injured they really are, which can lead to lifelong problems. Most of them go into this profession knowing that pain is going to be a large part of it. There are going to be cuts requiring stitches, broken fingers, broken bones, torn muscles, and the list goes on and on. Therefore, NFL players just feel that the pain killers they are given on the regular are just part of the game, part of their job. One drug that has been very popular to administer to these players in the past is Toradol. Although Toradol is not addictive, it is only available with prescription and considered so dangerous that some European countries have banned it. Despite the controversy over this drug, a survey in 2000 showed that 28 of 30 NFL teams on game day used Toradol injections. The Washington post also surveyed over 500 former NFL players surrounding this issue, and about one in four said they felt pressure to take medication they were uncomfortable with by their team doctors (Jenkins & Maese, 2013) . It is apparent to me that this prescription drug issue is heightened in the NFL mostly for the fact that this is their job! They are doing this for a living to support their family and themselves. If they are given an ultimatum, play or you're fired, chances are they are going to take the medications even if they are uncomfortable with the possible side effects. It's very sad to me that this is the way their athletic departments allow them to function. It is, in my opinion, just as bad as performance enhancing drugs.

Source:
http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-04-13/sports/38511779_1_toradol-painkillers-prescription-drug-use/2

Holly D. R.