The NFL and NFL Players Association strictly prohibit professional football players from smoking marijuana.
But now, a group of players are throwing a challenge flag, arguing that pot is a better and safer pain reliever than prescription pills and painkillers, CNN reports.
Playing professional football "automatically gives you the symptom of chronic pain," Eugene Monroe, a tackle for the Baltimore Ravens, told CNN. Rather than take on potentially addicting painkillers or opoids, players rely on marijuana to manage pain from the constant conflict of playing, Monroe said.
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"All over our country people are addicted, and that's happening in our locker rooms," he said.
Nate Jackson, a former Denver Broncos player who retired in 2008, said he used marijuana during his playing time to help cope with the pain he endured from the daily impact of football. Jackson is among the players calling for a lifting of the ban.
But for now, the NFL Players Association isn't budging with their ban on the green.
