The NFL Is Punishing A Player Who Uses Marijuana To Treat His Crohn’s Disease

The NFL Is Punishing A Player Who Uses Marijuana To Treat His Crohn’s Disease
I have two sources for this. Above is HuffPo and I also have the Buffalo Bills' own website reporting this:
Seantrel Henderson suspended by the league for 10 Games

For the second time this season, Buffalo Bills offensive lineman Seantrel Henderson has been suspended by the NFL for violating the league’s substance-abuse policy, the team announced on Tuesday.

“The league has notified us of the suspension and we are moving forward with our preparations to play the Oakland Raiders this Sunday,” the team said in a statement. Per league policy, the exact violation was not publicly disclosed.

Because it is his second violation this year, Henderson must deal with a 10-game suspension without pay, after already sitting through a four-game suspension earlier this season. Should be fail one more drug test, he will be banned from the league for life, barring a successful attempt at reinstatement down the line.

Ok so you are probably saying, "Ok Krazy the NFL is known to be hugely intolerant towards medical marijuana what's the big deal?" This is the big deal:

But Henderson’s story is not a typical one. In the middle of last season, the 24-year-old learned he had Crohn’s disease, defined by the Mayo Clinic as “an inflammatory bowel disease ... [that] causes inflammation of the lining of your digestive tract.” Crohn’s disease can cause “abdominal pain, severe diarrhea, fatigue, weight loss and malnutrition,” and while there is no known cure for it, one thing in particular can help ease the pain, according to medial studies: weed.

“I’ve got doctors telling me this is the No. 1 medicine that would help your disease,” Henderson said in October, according to The Buffalo News. “You try to tell that to the league and it seems like they didn’t care too much.”

Henderson has had multiple surgeries since the discovery of his disease. Once he had two-and-a-half feet of his colon removed; another time surgeons had to reattach his intestines, according to Yahoo. In the intervening months, he had to wear an ileostomy bag while he dropped approximately 50 lbs.

This is bull#. It's bad enough the NFL won't let players smoke pot for their physical injuries or concussions but this is a serious disease that is VERY painful. NFL is like "nope, eff you! I hope you like taking pills".

This has been an ongoing story with the NFL. With all the news about the concussion reports you'd THINK the NFL would embrace better care for their players, but nope. They refuse to update their policies. Now you could always shoot back that marijuana is still illegal federally and they are just following the law. EXCEEEEPT

The issue is, while the NFL allows medical exemptions for some banned substances, like Adderall, marijuana is not one of them.

But even then the NFL could start putting serious money behind at the very least the medical marijuana movement on behalf of their players. Of course we all know that the NFL secretly could give a # about the well being of their players. As long as they can play on Sunday to bring in the fans, that's all that matters to them.

I seriously hope this guy sues and gets the ball rolling on the medical marijuana train. Get some judicial review on this illegal war against personal freedom.

a reply to: Krazysh0t

maybe the NFL stand for National Federal League...

but seriously, i have a cousin who suffers from Crohn's and marijuana is what gets him through it.

wow great post - im from buffalo and a huge bills fan. seantrel is a great guy, ive thrown back some drinks at the pearl street brewery.
this guy isnt smoking weed for a cut or a broken finger, but crohns disease. in new york they just made medical marijuana legal.
however that doesnt mean the its legal with the nfl. they need to do their research and understand that some things require weed.
this is his 2nd suspension, and there should nt have been a first

Private corporation. They can make their own rules.

The players signed the Collective Bargaining Agreement. I'm sure it's in there somewhere...

He can lawyer up, but it's going to be a tough fight for him.

I seriously hope this guy sues and gets the ball rolling on the medical marijuana train. Get some judicial review on this illegal war against personal freedom.

What will he be suing for?
Who will he be suing? The team? The League? The Players union?

Do employers no longer have the right to decide if drug testing is necessary and what to test for?

a reply to: seagull

True. That does stand in the way, but something must be done. The NFL has been abusing its players for FAR too long and this is just one more aspect of it.

a reply to: shooterbrody

They do and can fall back on Federal Law, but the Federal vs. State Law issue will likely come to a head in the next few years thanks to cases like this.

Greetings-

Heisman Trophy winner Ricky Williams and former QB Jim McMahon are attempting to get Cannabis recognized as a "medicinal supplement" instead of the copious amounts of prescribed painkillers like Vicodin™; Fentanyl™..

www.nydailynews.com...

www.chicagotribune.com...

www.espn.com...

In one of these articles McMahon explains how cannabis cured Him of His opiate "Jones". It doesn't help that 'They' messed w/Kratom™ as well...
I know this guy, a retired Cop from Ca. that broke His neck/back while on 'The Job' He has seen 7 Drs. and the last being a world-class back surgeon, who advised against surgery. He told Me that He is in a category of 2% of opiate pain patients who haven't increased their dosages in over 7 years. He has been on the same dose for 12 years. He attributes this to also using a Cannabis strain grown for it's 'pain relieving properties'..

Stay Hydrated...

Proud member of LEAP.cc •Law Enforcement Against Prohibition

a reply to: shooterbrody

Well he lives in a state that has legal medical marijuana. Why can't he use it? Sounds like good grounds for a lawsuit to me. Let the courts FINALLY clear this whole mess up. If they rule in favor of the NFL, then that's that, but if we can finally make a dent into the stubborn federal governments' stance on this plant then that would be an AMAZING victory.

a reply to: Krazysh0t

You're not wrong.

The next CBA is going to be a bloodbath. You've got players like Seattle's Richard Sherman (Stanford grad) who are likely going to be the next generation of player reps, and they've no love for the NFL head office. None.

It wouldn't overly surprise me if the NFL went *poof* in the next decade or so.

a reply to: Krazysh0t

It may be legal for you to use in your home, but private businesses can still forbid its use. Here in Washington it's legal, too, but my now former employer could and did forbid, and can order tests.

It's a catch 22. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

a reply to: shooterbrody

Certainly they can. Nothing illegal about it, doesn't make it right though.

It's a nasty situation to be caught in, obviously.

a reply to: seagull

I really hope that doesn't happen either. I love me some Ravens football, but I won't stand by and watch the very players I watch every week destroy themselves on account of my entertainment. I want them taken care of too. And it's not like the NFL doesn't have the money. They pay these players millions of dollars to play football (and that's not even looking at coach salaries or even the salaries the owners get) so it's not like they can't afford these things. The NFL could have conducted TONS of private medical marijuana studies to get a good idea on its benefits for the players. Unfortunately the pharmaceutical companies just pipe drugs into trainers' hands who in turn just hand them out like candy to the players. This in turn DESTROYS these players' lives when they get out and suddenly get cut off from the free (addictive) drugs. Meanwhile, the NFL looks the other way on this whole behavior (likely because they are bought out by those pharmaceutical companies).

a reply to: seagull

It's a catch 22. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Ain't that the truth...

Let us never forget that it was one team...one group of courageous players, who stood against the other 31 in regards to the last collective bargaining agreement. That team should be called the Saviours, but we all know them as the mighty Pittsburgh Steelers. They told us so, and they were right.

If you have to use banned substances to be healthy, you shouldn't be allowed to compete.

We had a dilemma in Mixed Martial Arts recently where men with low testosterone were allowed to take Testosterone Replacement Therapy. Testosterone is the same thing as anabolic steroids. It was abused and used as an easy way to take steroids. Testosterone Replacement Therapy is now banned and men with low testosterone can't compete if they want to take their medicine.

Marijuana should be treated the same way if they're going to keep it on the banned substances list.

a reply to: RedDragon

So you agree with just pumping these players full of opiates instead?

a reply to: RedDragon

Wrong. Marijuana doesn't give you a competitive edge. False equivalency

originally posted by: Krazysh0t
Well he lives in a state that has legal medical marijuana. Why can't he use it?

He can. He just can't play in the NFL if he does. Just because a state makes it legal, doesn't mean an individual employer still can't decide to fire you if you use it. That's the way things stack up at this point in history. There's a pastiche of laws, many of them conflicting.

a reply to: Blue Shift

This is why I'm advocating for a lawsuit to sort this legal nightmare out real quickly.

a reply to: Blue Shift

youre right and it sucks.
mj is not a performance enhancer.

adults should be able to enjoy mj for whatever reason they choose no matter if it is medical or recreational