Pubdate: Thu, 07 Jul 2016
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Copyright: 2016 The Denver Post Corp
Contact:  http://www.denverpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122
Author: Nicki Jhabvala

NEW STUDY TO LOOK AT WHOLE-PLANT CANNABIS

About 30 Former NFL Players in California Are Expected to Participate 
Later This Summer

A push for cannabidiol research has gained steam in recent months, 
with current and former NFL players backing two studies on CBD's 
efficacy in alleviating football-related pain without getting them 
high. But another study, led by a California-based cannabis extract 
producer Constance Therapeutics and the Gridiron Cannabis Coalition, 
aims to examine whether whole-plant cannabis is more effective than 
isolated compounds in treating players' pain.

Led by Dutch researcher Arno Hazekamp, the study will include about 
30 former NFL players in California, where marijuana is legal for 
medicinal purposes and soon could be legal for recreational use as well.

The players will be administered marijuana, via vapor or tincture, 
and monitored to determine the drug's effectiveness in alleviating 
their pain and symptoms from concussions.

The study, funded by donors and Constance Therapeutics, is expected 
to start later this summer with no set end date.

Chris Kluwe, a former punter who played nine years in the NFL, is 
among those who have volunteered to participate.

Kluwe used marijuana during his career and still uses it in 
retirement to ease lingering pain from four knee surgeries and years 
of wear and tear.

The study, he says, is key to not only promoting awareness of 
alternative, and possibly safer, pain relievers than the narcotics 
players often receive from teams, but to also prompt the NFL and 
players association to revise the substance-abuse policy.

"The way the NFL has it now is really not a bad system because what 
it does is it touches guys who really do have a problem and probably 
should get some sort of counseling," Kluwe said. "What I'd like to 
see them do is be much more lenient in terms of the penalties that 
are assessed on guys. So instead of having someone like Josh Gordon - 
who gets suspended for an entire year - go, 'OK, we're going make 
resources available to you,' but also look at it like maybe this guy 
really does need this to help him play this game. 'How can we make it 
so that he's still active and functional in his everyday life and 
able to play in the NFL as well?' "

The study will be GCC's first, but it's one of a growing number of 
cannabis studies geared toward helping NFL players and changing the 
league's policies.

"When the Bright Lights Fade," an initiative that started with a 
group of former Broncos players, Colorado's CW Hemp and its 
partnering nonprofit, Realm of Caring, raised nearly $100,000 to fund 
two studies on former players' CBD use and nonuse, and to track 
current players' in-season injury treatment plans.

While the intents of the CBD and cannabis studies are similar, the 
distinction is significant. Unlike marijuana, CBD from hemp has only 
traces of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the compound that gets users 
high. The NFL's substance-abuse policy penalizes players who test 
positive for more than 35 nanograms per milliliter of urine of THC. 
It's believed that players could not consume enough CBD to test hot, 
but even minimal amounts of THC pose a risk. Whole-plant cannabis, 
however, poses a much greater risk because of the higher THC content. 
Although medical marijuana is legal in 25 states and the District of 
Columbia, it is still federally illegal.

"Until marijuana is legal on the federal level, then the NFL just 
isn't going to touch it because then you run into trafficking 
issues," Kluwe said. "I can understand why the NFL isn't really 
looking to get involved in this right now in terms of on an 
institutional level, but I think that they should be looking to set 
pieces in place so once it does become legal, they're ready to move 
to add it to their tool kit, just like anything else in the training room."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom