Amid opioid epidemic, NFL player risks career to push for medical marijuana

For a moment, Eugene Monroe felt paralyzed. It was December, and the offensive lineman for the Baltimore Ravens was sitting in a chair, recovering f-rom a recent shoulder surgery and trying to keep his body propped up as his doctors had recommended.

He thought about going to the kitchen but felt completely stuck in place.

“I just couldn’t even get up. I just struggled. I lost whe-re I was for a moment,” the 29-year-old recalled, adding: “I just didn’t feel like myself at all.”

Monroe’s physicians had prescribed him oxycodone, and although his body needed relief f-rom severe pain, the side effects of the painkiller were horrible. He felt like a “zombie” – sluggish, lethargic and always in a fog. He avoided developing a dangerous opioid addiction, but many other athletes, particularly professional football players, are not so lucky.

That’s why Monroe has become an unlikely advocate for medical marijuana, an al-ternative painkiller that the National Football League continues to ban despite growing evidence that cannabis is significantly safer than opioids, could reduce opioid dependence and could even diminish the long-term effects of brain injuries.

In March, Monroe became the first active NFL player to openly call for the use of cannabinoids to treat chronic pain and sports injuries, and this month he escalated his campaign with the launch of a personal website dedicated to the cause and an $80,000 donation to medical marijuana researchers.
 

In a wide-ranging interview with the Guardian on Monday, Monroe discussed the debilitating pain that NFL players suffer on a daily basis, the widespread misuse of opioids and addiction he has witnessed in the league, and his risky decision to go public with his beliefs – a move that he still fears could cost him his job.

“Speaking about things like pain and how you feel is sort of frowned upon, because this game is all about winning and overcoming adversity, and no one wants to hear about the struggle,” he said.



Baltimore Ravens NFL player Eugene Monroe. Photograph: Jeff Nelson Photography

 

But the potential medical benefits of cannabis for players were too great to stay silent, he said.

“My family is far more concerned with my health and ... being there for my children than they are with my employment in the NFL.”


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