Roger Goodell Says Marijuana Is Addictive, Believes It's Bad for NFL Players

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said Friday morning that marijuana has an "addictive nature" and likely won't be cleared by the NFL any time soon as a pain-relief alternative. 

Appearing on ESPN's Mike & Mike (h/t Pro Football Talk's Michael David Smith), Goodell said the league is still doing research on the effects marijuana would have on the health of its players: 

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I think you still have to look at a lot of aspects of marijuana use. Is it something that can be negative to the health of our players? Listen, you’re ingesting smoke, so that’s not usually a very positive thing that people would say. It does have addictive nature. There are a lot of compounds in marijuana that may not be healthy for the players long-term. All of those things have to be considered. And it’s not as simple as someone just wants to feel better after a game. We really want to help our players in that circumstance but I want to make sure that the negative consequences aren’t something that is something that we’ll be held accountable for some years down the road.

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However, Goodell did say the league is constantly evaluating the substance along with the NFL Players Association and independent advisers to determine if it can be used down the line. 

"We've been studying that through our advisers," he said, per Smith. "To date, they haven't said this is a change we think you should make that’s in the best interests of the health and safety of our players. If they do, we're certainly going to consider that. But to date, they haven't really said that."

This isn't a new stance from Goodell. 

In advance of Super Bowl 51, the commissioner sat down at the Walter Payton Man of the Year forum and offered insight into the league's thinking, according to the Denver Post's Nicki Jhabvala: 

That same week, NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith told reporters the players union was studying the possible benefits of using medical marijuana as opposed to opioids. 

"We’re looking at the issue comprehensively when it comes to medical marijuana, but we're looking at it as an issue of pain," he said, per Jhabvala.