Drug Agents Surprise Searched NFL Teams On Sunday

By Cameron La Fontaine | Nov 16, 2014

August 24, 2014; Santa Clara, CA, USA; General view of an endzone pylon before the game between the San Francisco 49ers and the San Diego Chargers at Levi /

Federal drug agents surprised NFL teams with surprise searches for prescription drugs after games on Sunday.

According to the Washington Post, there were several surprise inspections of NFL medical staff after games on Sunday by federal drug agents cracking down on the prescription drug abuse that exists in the league. Teams that were searched included the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who played the Washington Redskins at FedEx Field, and the San Francisco 49ers, who played the New York Giants in New Jersey.

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The inspections included bag searches and questioning of team doctors by Drug Enforcement Administration agents in cooperation with the Transportation Security Administration. There is an ongoing suspicion that NFL teams dispense drugs illegally to keep players on the field, which is in violation of the Controlled Substances Act.

Federal law prohibits anyone but a physician or nurse practitioner from distributing prescription drugs, and they must meet regulations for acquiring, storing, labeling and transporting them. And it is illegal for trainers to dispense, or even handle, controlled substances in any way.

According to the Post, DEA spokesman Rusty Payne the investigation and said it came as a result of a lawsuit filed by more that 1,300 retired NFL players that allege that NFL medical personnel regularly provided players with addictive narcotics. These included Percocet and Percodan, sleeping pills such as Ambien, and the non-addictive painkiller Toradol to help them play through injuries on game days.

This isn’t the first time that the DEA has searched NFL medical personnel. In 2010, the DEA raided the offices of the San Diego Chargers after safety Kevin Ellison was found with 100 Vicodin pills during a traffic stop, and discovered that the team’s then-doctor David Chao wrote more than 100 prescriptions to himself.

The DEA has been trying to reduce a national epidemic of painkiller abuse, which it says has contributed to increased heroin use.

According to the Post, 2010 study of 644 league veterans from the Washington University School of Medicine found that retired NFL players misuse opioids at a rate more than four times that of their peers. A significant percentage reported either overusing painkilling opioid drugs within the past 30 days, or taking the drugs without a prescription — or both.

There’s clearly a correlation of drug abuse and NFL players. Hopefully the stepped up efforts by the DEA will contribute to stopping NFL medical personnel from distributing addictive drugs to players, especially those who are not prescribed.

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