--- description: The NFL Players Association will study marijuana use as pain-management tool following the legalization of the drug in many states this week title: Medical Marijuana: NFL Players Association Studying Drug image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Sports](/section/sports/) ## Sports Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Football](/tag/football/) ## Football Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # NFL Players Union to Look at Pot for Pain Relief  by [Justin Worland](/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent Nov 10, 2016 2:28 PM CUT  by [Justin Worland](/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent Nov 10, 2016 2:28 PM CUT The NFL Players Association will study marijuana use as pain-management tool following the legalization of the drug in many states this week, according to news reports. The group, a union that represents past and present NFL players, will form a committee to study applications of the drug for reducing pain, according to a Washington _Post_ [report](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/sports/wp/2016/11/09/as-more-states-legalize-marijuana-nflpa-to-study-potential-as-a-pain-management-tool/ "undefined"). The drug remains prohibited for NFL players in accordance with a contract negotiated by the league and the union. Any change would require approval from both of them. [Voters](http://time.com/4559278/marijuana-election-results-2016/ "undefined") in California, Massachusetts and Nevada legalized recreational marijuana use this week while voters in Florida, North Dakota and Arkansas approved medical marijuana initiatives. Medical marijuana will be legal in [28 states](http://medicalmarijuana.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=000881 "undefined"). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4566085/marijuana-nfl-players-association/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4566085/marijuana-nfl-players-association/"},"headline":"NFL Players Union to Look at Pot for Pain Relief","datePublished":"2016-11-10T14:28:18.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T01:45:05.134Z","description":"But NFL currently doesn't allow marijuana use among players","url":"https://time.com/4566085/marijuana-nfl-players-association/","keywords":["Football"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"Sports","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/sports/","name":"Sports"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/football/","name":"Football"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4566085/marijuana-nfl-players-association/","name":"NFL Players Union to Look at Pot for Pain Relief"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"These States Just Legalized Marijuana","description":"Here are the results of the marijuana ballot measures","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/DawM64sY/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-11-10T15:29:40.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/DawM64sY.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4566085/marijuana-nfl-players-association/","duration":"PT58S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4566085/marijuana-nfl-players-association/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```