DEA agents check at least 2 NFL medical staffs
Source: AP-Excite
By JIM LITKE
Federal drug enforcement agents showed up unannounced Sunday to check at least two visiting NFL teams' medical staffs as part of an investigation into former players' claims that teams mishandled prescription drugs.
There were no arrests, Drug Enforcement Agency spokesman Rusty Payne said Sunday. The San Francisco 49ers' staff was checked at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, after they played the New York Giants. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers' staff was checked at a Baltimore-Washington International airport after playing the Redskins.
The operation was still ongoing, and other teams may be checked later Sunday, Payne said.
"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)," Payne said.
FULL story at link.
Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20141116/fbn-nfl-dea-investigation--4fa1ffcf7d.html
Dustlawyer
(10,497 posts)Ask Brett Favre about access to pain killers in the NFL.
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)If someone is an adult and they want to take drugs... I mean, fine, flame me all you want, but I have trouble envisioning why billions of taxpayer dollars need to be involved.
Put the money into treatment, and find the DEA dudes jobs fighting actual crime.
i suppose on the plus side, at least here they're just hassling football players and not some quadriplegic pain patient in a wheelchair.
Raine1967
(11,589 posts)I have a problem if this is true.
If this is the culture of the NFL, Drugs etc., then it needs to be looked at from top to bottom. Ray Rice is a problem, indeed. passing out drugs the way this WaPo report makes it out is even worse.
An honest question I would ask: do players feel like they have to take these drugs in oder to perform? That does to the endemic problem I am starting to see within a sport I really love.
The NFL management needs to clean itself up.
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)than dragging in a Federal Agency with a multi-Billion a year budget to rifle through NFL players' lockers looking for their dope stash.
Raine1967
(11,589 posts)that the organization may very well have been turning a blind eye to this.
Like I said, I really love football. I truly do.
I am not really happy with how the organization regulate/disciplines itself. The NFL heads are nopt regulating things. They are not protecting the commodity -- the players. No players, no game.
LeftyMom
(49,212 posts)Apparently they were checking the team doctors' supplies, not the players' personal effects.
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)Thanks for the clarification.
Dont call me Shirley
(10,998 posts)Let's check the congress people for illegal drug use? How about that?
DeSwiss
(27,137 posts)"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)," Payne said.
....
The nationwide probe is being directed by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York -- where the NFL is headquartered -- but involves several U.S. attorney's offices.
The investigation was sparked by a lawsuit filed in May on behalf of former NFL players going back to 1968. The number of plaintiffs has grown to more than 1,200, including dozens who played as recently as 2012. Any violations of federal drug laws from 2009 forward could also become the subject of a criminal investigation because they would not be subject to the five-year statute of limitations.
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000429654/article/dea-agents-check-nfl-medical-staffs-after-games
LeftyMom
(49,212 posts)All visiting teams, presumably because they could press federal charges for any pills that crossed state lines without the correct documentation. Apparently they were looking for unlabeled/incorrectly labeled pills and did the checks prior to their departing flights (the last bit per the Bucs twitter account.)
Reter
(2,188 posts)Just look at them, it is obvious use in the NFL is rampant.
AndroBaby
(5 posts)Another area that they over looked or did they?
nilesobek
(1,423 posts)I wouldn't put it past a player working in collusion somehow with the medical staff to take narcotic painkillers, not necessarily because they need them but just to be able to play through the game while injured. Just enough to take the next devastating head shot, or another crippling blow to the legs, get up and be ready for the next play.