The DEA NFL painkiller investigation has been a joke thus far

The Drug Enforcement Agency has been investigating the NFL for possible illegal activity involving its disbursement of prescription painkillers to players, and a recent Congressional inquiry into the investigation has revealed its ineptitude.

The DEA NFL painkiller investigation has been ongoing for years now. As of right now, it appears to all have been a huge waste of time and tax dollars, as the NFL hasn’t been held accountable for any of the immoral practices that many players have reported.

According to Rick Maese of the Washington Post, NFL officials again met with the DEA in March and assured representatives from the federal government agency that it has a plan for ensuring that its teams are compliant with federal laws regarding the handling of prescription drugs.

At issue have been allegations that NFL teams were regularly engaged in potentially illegal activity that included but wasn’t limited to the following:

• The prescribing and/or administration of prescription painkillers like Toradol by personnel not licensed to do so.
• Storing massive quantities of controlled substances at team facilities.
• Transporting controlled substances across state lines for road games.
• Dispersing controlled substances to team personnel who had no corresponding medical need for the drugs.

This meeting between the NFL and the DEA only came after Democratic members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee inquired into the DEA’s investigation. Other than that, the only other documented assessments of the NFL’s handling of this situation seems to have come from the NFL itself. Essentially, it seems like the DEA has allowed the NFL to compose the findings of the investigation into itself.

The DEA’s response to the House committee makes no mention of the actual findings of the investigation, which have included surprise inspections on team facilities, despite the fact that very information was specifically requested by the Congress committee. Instead, the DEA responded with a letter full that, considering the tone, sounded like it could have come right from an NFL PR person.

The league says that it no longer allows team personnel to take controlled substances on road trips, and that prescription drugs can now only be administered by licensed physicians. Road teams employ local physicians to avoid these potential legal violations.

While that may allow the NFL to be in the clear legally for now, it doesn’t address the real problem that has prompted lawsuits from former players. Nothing in what the NFL has stated is a commitment to reducing the dispersal of Toradol and other pain-masking agents like candy with, at times, seemingly no regard for the possible side effects or addiction it can result in.

While there is as of yet no documented cause to impugn the integrity of the physicians that NFL teams employ, there is a conflict of interest inherent in the practice. Teams pay these physicians to keep players on the field.

Additionally, the fact that the DEA letter to Congress makes no mention of any details of the NFL’s reported plan to ensure compliance is troubling. The NFL and its member franchises are private businesses, and internal operations like this aren’t required to be shared with the public. When these are the exact practices that a federal investigation is being conducted into, however, it would behoove all parties for the details of such a plan being made available at least to the investigators.

Investigations into potential criminal activity are often not as much about what really happened, but rather more about what investigators can prove took place. It’s possible that the DEA’s investigation has been hampered by a lack of documentation of violations and conflicting testimonies. That’s no excuse for letting the NFL craft its own narrative about the investigation, however.

This matter isn’t concluded, as Representative Frank Pallone Jr. (sixth district, New Jersey, top-ranking Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee) has denoted that the DEA’s letter has only raised more questions and made it clear that more action needs to be taken to ensure NFL compliance.

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What exactly will happen from here isn’t clear. What’s obvious is that if its left up to the DEA, the NFL will write a letter congratulating itself for destroying the health of many former players.