The NFL would rather that Mike James consume powerful opioids to manage his chronic pain, risking addiction, overdose and even death, than use the drug that actually works the best for him.
Marijuana.
That was the message from the league last month when it rejected his application for a therapeutic-use exemption for the drug this season. The free agent running back had hoped the exemption, called a TUE, would allow him to treat his pain without fear of violating the league's substance-abuse policy.
Instead, the answer was just the latest short-sighted decision from a league that hasn't found a way to protect its players from the lifetime of suffering that follows a career in the sport -- and one that is apparently blind to the opioid crisis that has taken hold in this country.