South Florida Pain Clinics Raided: NFL Players Face Same Nasty Addiction

Just hours after DEA agents and police raided and closed 11 "pill mills" stretching from Palm Beach to Miami Dade Counties, we are left with a serious reminder of the dangers that NFL and other sport players face after retiring from a such a physically demanding career.

Many players become addicted to pain medication during their playing career. According to a report by John Barr for ESPN's Outside the Lines, players are four times as likely to become addicted to pain medication than the general population and a staggering number of these players abused pain medication while playing in the NFL.

It is imperative that some provisions be included in the new CBA to address addiction during and after a players career, with addiction treatment and prevention to be included in the plan.

Players are pushed to take pain pills by pressure to return to the game, regardless of injury, and if not that player is considered to have a lack of heart. We need only to look at the harassment of Jay Cutler by players and the media for not returning to the Chicago Bears playoff loss against the Green Bay Packers. 

Media would have preferred that Cutler shoot some pain medication into his leg and suck it up to go back into the game. Unfortunately, this mentality increases the chances of addiction in players.

My previous article offers solutions for fixing the CBA and includes suggestions for starting an addiction prevention and treatment program for current and retired players.

What do you think of NFL players increased risk for addiction? Thank you for your time in reading this article.