Chronic Trauma Encephalopathy (CTE) And Football

For 6 months out of the year every Sunday, Millions of people tune in to watch Sunday Football. If that is not enough to give you perspective, more people watch NFL games in comparison to people who go out and vote for the presidential election. Football is watched religiously by many Americans, including myself. However, not many are able to see what happens of the off cameras. The repetitive contact plays have long lasting damaging effects to the brain. Recently studies have found a link between Chronic Trauma Encephalopathy (CTE) and Football. CTE is a degenerative brain disease developed from brain trauma injury. The impact of CTE does not only affect the player diagnosed with the disease, but their families as well. CTE has lead …show more content…
Monroe states, “I think that in our league we need to take a more progressive stance and offer players a healthier treatment option than the pharmaceutical pills” (Giles). Monroe was one of the first active football players to speak out for medical marijuana. He was let go from the Baltimore Ravens shortly after coming out pro marijuana. Since then he has retired from the NFL and donated to medical marijuana research. Eugine also claims that “current players don’t speak really about any of the struggles that they’re enduring while they’re active athletes” (Giles). Players do not speak out primarily because they are afraid of repercussions to come and determine the fate of their career. So they figured it is better to keep their mouth …show more content…
Marijuana has gained a bad reputation since the war on drugs. During this time marijuana was being tagged as this terrible dangerous illicit drug. The truth is that marijuana has actually been found as an important medical plant that has a large amount of potential. In fact, Bryce Miller states that, “Nearly a quarter of the NFL’s teams now play in states where recreational use is legal. More than half of the states in the U.S. now allow medical use” (Miller). This shows that there is a reason that marijuana is becoming more widely accepted, because it is not dangerous as it has been tagged as. If they are not scared off by the actual plant then it must be the Scheduling of it by the DEA. Although Marijuana is becoming legalized and pushed for in more states than ever, there is still a Federal ban on Cannabis. This makes it harder to research and speak openly supporting Cannabis for the NFL. Especially since some team’s states has yet to legalize marijuana. However, Miller claims, “There’s federal law. In the end, though, the NFL controls who it suspends and for what. The league and the players association can ensure equity” (Miller). This alone shows that the NFL can possibly make moves towards less punitive action in regard to Cannabis, but seem