Are the owners of franchise sports to blame for athletes drug abuses?  The athletes claim that they went to drugs like POT because it helped ease the pain of their sports injuries like ACL, for example.   In a time when the NFL is worried about head injuries due to lawsuits could we see a similar scenario with drug abuse linked to sports medicine's pain killers?

 

discuss

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I don't know how you can be anti-weed and still be OK with the (probable) drug abuse when it comes to pain killers. It should be obvious to anyone that these guys need some sort of relief, and if they're using meds like these, then there should be a few that will be addicted to it. 

 

If the NFL cared about its players, then they wouldn't care about weed since it may be a better alternative to these pain meds in some situations. It's about the image, and I think we all know that. You can't really blame them too much, either. It is a business, after all. It just seems like a lazy attempt by the NFL to make them seem like they care about their players. 

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Theres a good mini series on this subject on the Vice Sports youtube channel. Interviews former players such as Marcellus Wiley and Kyle Turley on the underlying problem of painkiller addiction in present and former NFL players. Very interesting.


Many times on Sunday we see these guys get injured and come back into the game, we look at them as superhuman but in reality alot of these guys are pumped with so many painkillers they feel nothing out there.

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I can speak from experience on this. The stereotype of being a "pain killer addict" isn't a very fair one. Anyone who has been through a major surgery or trauma knows that those drugs are needed for pain management, and in many instances, will be given to a patient regardless. For instance, following surgery, it is routine to give an intravenous  pain killer such as dilaudid or morphine before the patient is even awakened. The gears are already in motion at that point.

 

For those who don't know, modern pain killers are essentially synthetic versions of heroin. They are incredibly addictive both physically and mentally. The withdrawal from them varies from person to person, but can be incredibly physically painful. I am among those who have a particularly hard time detoxing and withdrawing from pain killers. I just did that very thing a couple weeks ago. My best description of it is the flu on steroids, mixed with a healthy dose of schizophrenia. Your entire body aches horribly. Hot and cold spells. You want to kill everyone. It's tough. I am through 2 weeks of it, and am still suffering from severe insomnia. I am lucky to get 2 to 3 hours of sleep a day. I am up all night, and seem to sleep from 8 to 11 AM regularly. My body will not shake this, and nothing has helped.

 

It can be that bad.

 

So, comparing pain killer addiction to other addictions simply isn't a good comparison. They got into the addiction through legitimate medical treatment, and found that the withdrawal is too much to deal with. I completely understand how this can happen, and anyone who has been through an opiate withdrawal would likely agree with me.

 

These guys are a far cry from a crack addict or meth addict, and should not be stereotyped as such.

 

As far as marijuana goes, it's still ILLEGAL at the federal level. I would say that gives all teams and their executives good cause to not let their players use it. It is still against the law. Period. End of story. Whether it works as good or not is moot until it becomes legal.

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What lies behind us, and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.







 

Thats a big problem, alot of kids nowadays will break their arm or somethting and get prescribed some percocets or vicodins and their hooked just like that, that stuff is basically synthetic heroin. I only graduated from high school 3 years ago and was surprised at how many of my classmates were fully addicted to painkillers or benzos. Its a terrible thing man.

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I can speak from experience on this. The stereotype of being a "pain killer addict" isn't a very fair one. Anyone who has been through a major surgery or trauma knows that those drugs are needed for pain management, and in many instances, will be given to a patient regardless. For instance, following surgery, it is routine to give an intravenous  pain killer such as dilaudid or morphine before the patient is even awakened. The gears are already in motion at that point.

 

For those who don't know, modern pain killers are essentially synthetic versions of heroin. They are incredibly addictive both physically and mentally. The withdrawal from them varies from person to person, but can be incredibly physically painful. I am among those who have a particularly hard time detoxing and withdrawing from pain killers. I just did that very thing a couple weeks ago. My best description of it is the flu on steroids, mixed with a healthy dose of schizophrenia. Your entire body aches horribly. Hot and cold spells. You want to kill everyone. It's tough. I am through 2 weeks of it, and am still suffering from severe insomnia. I am lucky to get 2 to 3 hours of sleep a day. I am up all night, and seem to sleep from 8 to 11 AM regularly. My body will not shake this, and nothing has helped.

 

It can be that bad.

 

So, comparing pain killer addiction to other addictions simply isn't a good comparison. They got into the addiction through legitimate medical treatment, and found that the withdrawal is too much to deal with. I completely understand how this can happen, and anyone who has been through an opiate withdrawal would likely agree with me.

 

These guys are a far cry from a crack addict or meth addict, and should not be stereotyped as such.

 

As far as marijuana goes, it's still ILLEGAL at the federal level. I would say that gives all teams and their executives good cause to not let their players use it. It is still against the law. Period. End of story. Whether it works as good or not is moot until it becomes legal.

Not a religious person much, but all I can think of is good luck and may God give you strength. Thanks for sharing and shedding a different light on this. 

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Blakes Life Matters

I can speak from experience on this. The stereotype of being a "pain killer addict" isn't a very fair one. Anyone who has been through a major surgery or trauma knows that those drugs are needed for pain management, and in many instances, will be given to a patient regardless. For instance, following surgery, it is routine to give an intravenous  pain killer such as dilaudid or morphine before the patient is even awakened. The gears are already in motion at that point.

 

For those who don't know, modern pain killers are essentially synthetic versions of heroin. They are incredibly addictive both physically and mentally. The withdrawal from them varies from person to person, but can be incredibly physically painful. I am among those who have a particularly hard time detoxing and withdrawing from pain killers. I just did that very thing a couple weeks ago. My best description of it is the flu on steroids, mixed with a healthy dose of schizophrenia. Your entire body aches horribly. Hot and cold spells. You want to kill everyone. It's tough. I am through 2 weeks of it, and am still suffering from severe insomnia. I am lucky to get 2 to 3 hours of sleep a day. I am up all night, and seem to sleep from 8 to 11 AM regularly. My body will not shake this, and nothing has helped.

 

It can be that bad.

 

So, comparing pain killer addiction to other addictions simply isn't a good comparison. They got into the addiction through legitimate medical treatment, and found that the withdrawal is too much to deal with. I completely understand how this can happen, and anyone who has been through an opiate withdrawal would likely agree with me.

 

These guys are a far cry from a crack addict or meth addict, and should not be stereotyped as such.

 

As far as marijuana goes, it's still ILLEGAL at the federal level. I would say that gives all teams and their executives good cause to not let their players use it. It is still against the law. Period. End of story. Whether it works as good or not is moot until it becomes legal.

 

Tough story for you.  It's good that people are able to share it so others can see the issues.

 

Just curious on how long it took you get the addiction to it.

 

I only ask because of a response after yours.  I've been given painkillers a handful of times or so in my life and I just never got the feeling that I needed it after the pain went away.  Sure they were sometimes fun to take after the pain went away.

 

I know there were guys out there taking 20, 30, 40, 50 or more painkillers a day because of the addiction and because over time they lost their effect.  It's crazy. 

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Tough story for you.  It's good that people are able to share it so others can see the issues.

 

Just curious on how long it took you get the addiction to it.

 

I only ask because of a response after yours.  I've been given painkillers a handful of times or so in my life and I just never got the feeling that I needed it after the pain went away.  Sure they were sometimes fun to take after the pain went away.

 

I know there were guys out there taking 20, 30, 40, 50 or more painkillers a day because of the addiction and because over time they lost their effect.  It's crazy. 

In short, I went to the ER roughly a month ago with abdominal pain and blood in urine. I thought maybe a kidney stone or appendix about to go. They started an IV and first thing was a shot of morphine. Morphine is a pretty high end pain killer, and highly addictive. It didn't do much of anything for the pain, and shortly thereafter I found out I had cancer. It was then that they stepped up to dilaudid, which is about the strongest pain med that they can throw at you. It is more than 15 times more potent than Morphine. I was admitted into the hospital, and spent almost 2 weeks there. I was on dilaudid the entire time except the last day. I would get a dose as often as every 8 minutes following surgery. Once they took me off that, I was placed on Oxycontin pills. I left the hospital with roughly a week supply of those. Once they ran out, the withdrawal and detox began the following day. These are the highest end pain killers, and the withdrawal from them is PURE HELL. If I could do it over again, I would have gotten more pain meds when they were offered, and "stepped down" over a period of time, progressing to weaker and weaker drugs. I did not, and just toughed out the withdrawal to get it over with. So, in short, about 3 1/2 weeks.

 

I am still not right. I am suffering from severe insomnia and anxiety. I did not sleep whatsoever last night. I am going on close to 40 hours without sleep, and have only slept something like 10 hours in the past 4 days. It is a very tough thing. I am leaving for the pharmacy when I finish this post to get some sleeping pills and anti-anxiety pills that my doctor prescribed. I hope they work, and I sleep the next day or so away because I need it more than I know.

 

People who take Lortab, Vicodin, or even Percocet aren't as susceptible to the horrible withdrawals, but can still have them to a lesser extent, depending on how long they are on them. Brett Favre is an example of a guy who was addicted to Vicodin. He used to get them from ex-Jaguar John Jurkovic when they played together. He had to go into a professional rehab to get off of them. So, it can happen with any of them. I have also had withdrawal symptoms from percocet, following extended periods of use. It was not nearly as brutal as what I am going through now, but was fairly unpleasant nonetheless. I had most of the symptoms I listed above, but not as acute as now.

 

That's about all I can add from experience and just knowledge of the topic.

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What lies behind us, and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.