Marijuana use in the NFL has been a controversial topic for many years now.

The subject has continued to evolve lately as the league loosened its hard stance on the substance, taking a more liberal approach. The Kansas City Chiefs have encountered the once strict rules that prohibited any use of cannabis in the league, but those fines and suspensions that affected player availability appear to be a thing of the past as the NFL embraces change. The words cannabis and marijuana are directly associated with wellness and business for today’s players.

The league took a significant step forward in March 2020 when they implemented the new collective bargaining agreement. The new CBA declared that players who test positive for cannabis use would no longer be suspended. Testing would be limited to the first two weeks of training camp instead of a range spanning April to August. The threshold for the amount of THC, the psychoactive compound in marijuana needed to trigger a positive test, was also raised.

Branded content editor and cannabis insider Sarah Michel believes these changes are a necessary step in the right direction to correct what has been a troubling history.

“I think even looking at the history of marijuana and seeing how it was vilified, more people are becoming accepting now and seeing how people use cannabis in different ways,” Michel told Chiefs Wire’s Ed Easton Jr. “People are starting to see the medicinal benefits, and even with the NFL, I know that they just got a million dollars to commission two or three studies to see the effect of marijuana on pain management after an injury or just dealing with it medicinally. I think those are great steps, and people are starting to see that these players use marijuana to self-medicate. And because it has been labeled as a schedule one drug, it is difficult for people to see it past being a ‘drug.’ So I think they are making great steps and being more open.”

In February of 2022, the NFL awarded $1 million to two research projects. The first was a look into the “Effects of Cannabinoids on Pain and Recovery from Sports-Related Injuries in Elite Athletes.” The other on “Naturally Produced Cannabinoids for Pain Management and Neuroprotection from Concussion and Participation in Contact Sports.”

The football career of current Chiefs receiver Josh Gordon was most notably affected by the NFL’s past sanctions against cannabis. Gordon was a multiple-time offender of the NFL’s substance-abuse policy, costing him several games and entire seasons since entering the league via the 2012 supplemental draft. He had been vocal about his mental health issues and once relied on marijuana to help cope.

After stints with the Cleveland Browns, Pittsburgh Steelers and Seattle Seahawks, Gordon was reinstated by the league following his latest suspension and signed to the Chiefs’ practice squad. Gordon only played 11 games for the Browns after his 2013 Pro Bowl season due to his substance abuse suspensions and missed the entirety of the 2015, 2016, and 2020 seasons. The easing of suspensions due to the league’s new interest in cannabis research was the catalyst for the decision. Before last season, the rules were strict for those that violated the policy.

From the NFL: #Seahawks WR Josh Gordon was suspended indefinitely without pay for violating the NFL policies on performance-enhancing substances and substances of abuse.

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) December 16, 2019

A failed test meant a referral to the substance abuse program. A second violation resulted in a fine of two game checks, the third violation was a fine of four game checks, a fourth violation was a four-game suspension’ a fifth violation was a 10-game suspension, and the sixth violation led to a one-year ban without pay.

“I say that speaks to just how dangerous and harmful the war on drugs is,” said Michel. “(Gordon), like many people, has been arrested. And now there are big companies making billions of dollars off of it. And Americans still can’t get jobs because of felonies and other things. So, it’s a horrible consequence. Opioids are addictive. Cannabis hasn’t had any real studies that say it’s an addictive property. It has over 400 chemical properties that make it so complex. So it just kind of angered me in a way. That’s the story of cannabis: There are people who are affected, and they’re never going to get certain aspects of their lives back. They’re never going to be able to know where they could have been if this hadn’t happened to them. And then there are people who are going around profiting from it.”

Recent Chiefs players with substance abuse violations due to marijuana possession or failed drug tests include Demetrius Harris in 2018, De’Anthony Thomas in 2019, and Bashaud Breeland in 2020.

Former Chiefs’ great, Christian Okoye, notably promoted the use of marijuana as a prominent pain killer back in 2018. The former running back abandoned the use of opioids to deal with lingering pain from his playing days. He proclaimed that CBD had changed his life, and he is now “almost pain-free” as the marijuana allowed his body to recover fully.

Okoye wouldn’t be the only former Chiefs star to go into business with marijuana. In 2019, Joe Montana announced his investment in a venture capital firm for the pot-growing industry. The list of former NFL players getting involved in the cannabis industry goes on and on.

The ongoing league studies are encouraging for the current players who rely on cannabis to deal with pain and mental health issues. However, according to Michel, the policy should be amended further, as she still believes the league is capable of doing more than collecting data to affect change for their players and the greater public.

“I think the NFL, in sponsoring this study, is taking the right step,” she said. “But at the same time, they’re kind of contradicting themselves because these players are practically brand ambassadors for the cannabis industry. They are the proof that (cannabis products) are effective. So it does sound like a conflicting message with them not using the study to affect policy afterward. I will be interested to see what comes out of the study and how they use it to implement change.”

Sarah Michel is the founder of CannaCultureConnect, a digital platform dedicated to educating people about the holistic qualities of cannabis while advocating to end the War on Drugs.