Player’s suit over Toradol hurts NFL’s drug suspension legitimacy

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A dozen former NFL players are suing the league over the use of the pain killer Toradol before and during games without advising them of the side effects of the drug. This suit is one of several against the league dealing with health issues. But the use of a pain killer like Toradol by the league drills holes in its drug policy.

The use of pain killers is just another example of the NFL’s duplicity about drug use. While they have a test 10 times more stringent than the Olympics on weed, they are funding a study to see if that drug helps in recovery from concussion syndrome. While they want to appear tough on weed, they are negotiating with the NFLPA to swap testing for marijuana for testing for human growth hormone. The league injects players with a drug without telling them about the side effects and penalizes them for taking a prescription drug unless they have approved it prior to use.

Every time the league does something to enforce its drug policy, it swallows its foot by doing something that seems to contradict the policy. Each of these contradictions decrease the chances that the drug policy will stand up in a court of law. Each weakens the league’s legitimacy in the drug testing arena. That should impact their decision about the violation of Brown’s WR Josh Gordon. We will see if it does but given the pomposity of the NFL it probably won’t.

That is what I think. Tell us what you think.

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Bill Smith is a former coach of several semi-pro teams, has officiated both football and basketball, done color on radio for college football and basketball and has scouted talent. He edits https://fryingpansports.com. He has also published several novels on and a non-fiction work at http://www.merriam-press.com/. Follow him on twitter @NNRonDSN to get the schedule of Special News, Notes and Rumors broadcasts. You can hear the previous shows on https://fryingpansports.com/radio-show/ and the live show Mondays at 6 PM Eastern time on .

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