DEA Agents Show Up Unannounced At NFL Locker Rooms To Look For Drugs

Two NFL visiting teams had to contend with more than just fans and reporters today: agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) also turned up in two places, looking for prescription painkillers.

DEA agents showed up unannounced at the visiting-team locker room at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, to check the San Francisco 49ers’ staff, and also Baltimore-Washington International Airport to check Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ medical staff, DEA spokesperson Rusty Payne told The Associated Press.

“DEA agents are currently interviewing NFL team doctors in several locations as part of an ongoing investigation into potential violations of the (Controlled Substances Act).”

The DEA visits were part of an ongoing investigation after a lawsuit filed by over a thousand former NFL players, some of whom played as recently as 2012, alleging that team doctors violated federal drug laws by over-prescribing prescription painkillers, according to WLS in Chicago.

An unnamed source told WLS that NFL team doctors have routinely over-prescribed painkillers, causing several players to become dependent. They were able to do this by cleverly fudging the paperwork.

“NFL doctors are not obtaining a separate registration where they are administering controlled substances to NFL players. They are administering in different states and treating players at hotels and stadiums outside of their registered location with the DEA.”

The lawsuit alleges that the former players have suffered, and continue to suffer, a variety of debilitating conditions caused by the painkillers, including addiction, bone and muscle ailments, and nerve damage. Team doctors would prescribe painkillers as if they were “candy,” according to the lawsuit; would mix them in into “cocktails;” and would prescribe painkillers under other players’ names to avoid looking like they prescribed too many to any one player.

Phil Closius, an attorney for the former players, told WLS that it’s about time the DEA started looking into painkiller abuse in the NFL.

“I think it’s great that the DEA is taking this seriously. We alleged back on May 20th that the NFL was issuing these controlled substances and prescription medicines in an illegal manner and nobody has really disputed the factual basis of that claim.”

During the raids, DEA agents checked with team doctors to make sure they are all properly licensed to prescribe prescription painkillers, such as Vicodin and Percocet; are keeping proper records of such prescriptions; and whether or not any of the painkillers were in their possession.

Payne says that more DEA raids on NFL locker rooms may be coming.

[Image courtesy of: Cannabis Culture]