NFL locker rooms are reportedly the focus of a federal investigation into abuse of prescription medication.
The New York Daily News reports that the Drug Enforcement Administration has launched an investigation into the abuse of prescription medication in the NFL. Agents are talking to former players about how NFL doctors and trainers treat players with drugs like Percodan, Vicodin and Toradol, all of which players have said they are given by members of their teams’ medical staff.
“They want to find out who provided and distributed the drugs to football players,” one source told the newspaper.
The investigation began after a group of former players sued the NFL, saying they were not warned of possible side effects of taking the prescription medication that team doctors gave out. When that lawsuit was filed, it was easy to assume that the owners could make it go away with a settlement, just as they’ve managed to find a settlement to the concussion litigation that will satisfy most of the plaintiffs without bankrupting the league.
But a DEA investigation is very different, and potentially a much more serious problem for the NFL.
