The National Football League is finally ready to relax its policy on cannabis, according to a report from NBC Sports on Wednesday. Citing an unnamed league source, the network’s Pro Football Talk reports that “the NFL is prepared to make major concessions regarding the substance-abuse policy, especially as it relates to marijuana” in talks for the next collective bargaining agreement with players. Sports analysts expect that the NFL would use the offer of any revision of the substance abuse policy as a bargaining chip in negotiations and expect concessions from the players union in return. The league could eliminate cannabis from its substance-abuse policy completely, although some fear such a change would cause some players who are free agents to sign exclusively with teams in states with legal pot.
Players React
Players are already reacting to the rumors. After seeing an Instagram post about the report from social media platform uStadium, Dallas Cowboys defensive end David Irving, who is currently serving a league suspension, posted a reply critical of the NFL’s current policy.
“Well once they do that, give me a call,” Irving replied. “Cuz it’s bulls–t how I have Xanax bars n hydros right next to me to take, given to me by the nfl of course. However, we can’t smoke the same weed the staff itself smokes.”
Irving was suspended for the first four games of the 2018 season after testing positive for a banned substance and was suspended again indefinitely on March 1 for repeated violations of the league’s substance-abuse policy.
Kyle Turley, a former NFL offensive lineman who is a cannabis advocate and founder of CBD athletic supplements brand Neuro XPF, told High Times that the league is