DEA agents check at least 2 NFL medical staffs

[Omaha Steve]

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]

1. Probably much like the movie, "North Dallas Forty," where they were handing pills out like candy.

Ask Brett Favre about access to pain killers in the NFL.

[Warren DeMontague]

2. Honestly, I don't care.

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]

3. I get what you are saying.. but as a big NFL fan

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]

5. Maybe, but to my mind that would be better left to the organization's own disciplinary system

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]

6. The problem, in my thought process, is

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]

9. I think they're more worried that team doctors are blowing out players' kidneys with Toradol.

Apparently they were checking the team doctors' supplies, not the players' personal effects.

[Warren DeMontague]

10. Gotcha.

Thanks for the clarification.

[Dont call me Shirley]

4. The DC team, not the racial slur name.

Let's check the congress people for illegal drug use? How about that?

[DeSwiss]

7. Now three.

...The Seattle Seahawks, who played at Kansas City, confirmed via the team's Twitter account that they were spot-checked as well. The operation was still ongoing, 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.

....

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]

8. Deadspin says they looked at six they know of.

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]

11. They should be more concerned with steroids

Just look at them, it is obvious use in the NFL is rampant.

[AndroBaby]

12. Poor NFL

Another area that they over looked or did they?

[nilesobek]

13. Seahawks being scrutinized as well.

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.