NFL Awards $1 Million to Study Impact of Cannabis and CBD on Pain Management
February 1, 2022 – The National Football League today announced the award of $1 million in research funding to two teams of medical researchers at the University of California San Diego and University of Regina. The studies will investigate the effects of cannabinoids on pain management and neuroprotection from concussion in elite football players, respectively.
These awards conclude the first request for research proposals executed by the NFL-NFLPA Joint Pain Management Committee (PMC), which aims to facilitate research to better understand and improve potential alternative pain management treatments for NFL players. Initiated by the PMC in June 2021, the call for proposals resulted in 106 submissions. Using the National Institutes of Health (NIH) format for scoring proposals, the NFL Research and Innovation Committee then narrowed the finalists to ten proposals to give oral presentations and provide written materials to the Committee.
“As with the league’s broader approach to health and safety, we want to ensure that our players are receiving care that reflects the most up-to-date medical consensus,” NFL chief medical officer Allen Sills said in a press release. “While the burden of proof is high for NFL players who want to understand the impact of any medical decision on their performance, we are grateful that we have the opportunity to fund these scientifically-sound studies on the use of cannabinoids that may lead to the discovery of data-based evidence that could impact the pain management of our players.”
Kevin Hill, a cannabis research who serves as co-chair of the NFL-NFLPA Joint Pain Management Committee (PMC), told The Associated Press that there are several reasons that studies into the pain management potential of marijuana has been limited, including the fact that it remains a Schedule I federally controlled substance.
That “makes it harder to do this research,” he said, echoing a point he made in response to a question from Marijuana Moment during a press briefing last summer. But he also blamed industry “stakeholders” who he alleged don’t want to support more studies because cannabis products are already widely available and being used.
“The NFL-NFLPA Joint Pain Management Committee is thrilled with the results of this process,” Hill said in a press release. “We received over 100 proposals from top clinicians and researchers from around the world. The NFL is eager to advance the science of pain management and performance in an effort to improve the health and safety of the players.”
Mark Wallace, co-principal investigator and director of the Center for Pain Medicine at UC San Diego Health, said that his team is “excited to receive this funding to conduct a systematic, ‘real-world, real-time’ study with professional athletes, and which should shed further light upon the many anecdotal reports that cannabis is helpful in reducing post-competition pain.”
The newly funded research initiatives will take three years to complete.
When the grant opportunity was first discussed last year, NFL said it was primarily interested in three areas of research:
1.the effects of cannabinoids on pain in elite football players (post-surgical and/or in daily pain management)
the effects of non-pharmacologic treatments on pain in elite football players (postsurgical and/or in daily pain management)
2.the effects of cannabis or cannabinoids on athletic performance (e.g., psychomotor, reaction time, cardiorespiratory function) in elite football players.”
The joint NFL-NFLPA committee held two informational forums on CBD in 2020, and while their initial findings were not definitive, PMC determined that the non-intoxicating cannabis compound shows promise in the treatment of some forms of pain, but the science doesn’t currently live up to the “hype.”
“The prevention and treatment of concussions is at the core of my research,” Patrick Neary, an exercise physiologist and professor in the Faculty of Kinesiology and Health Studies at the University of Regina, said. “That’s why I am excited to have the support of the NFL on this project.”
“Our interdisciplinary research team believes that different cannabinoid formulations found in medical cannabis have the potential to benefit athletes suffering from the acute and long-term chronic effects of concussions,” he said. “Our research will also work to show that cannabinoids can be used as an alternative to opioids for pain management.”