NFL May Draft Big Green to Treat Pain

The NFL preseason is ramping up. This week brings its first full slate of games.

The countdown to the pro football regular season is an exciting time for sports fans. But a surprising announcement just came out of the NFL …

One that should make investors looking to bag some big returns sit up and take notice.

As an avid sports fan, I find this change to the NFL’s longstanding policies an astonishing one. It provides further proof that the enormous money-making opportunity that I first introduced you to back in May is streaking down the field. And it’s doing so at a faster pace than I initially thought.

Here’s what NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and his crew are up to. And how you could potentially profit as a result.

If you are a regular reader of my Money and Markets columns, you know that I’ve devoted the past 11 weeks to explaining how Marijuana is Going Mainstream and how it’s Shaking Off Some of Its Old Stereotypes.

That’s because I don’t want you to miss out on what The New York Times calls “The Next Gold Rush.”

Especially not right now …

With the start of the NFL regular season just around the corner, the league picked a prime time to make a huge announcement.

One that hints about the possibility that it could reverse its stance on marijuana use.

This is potentially a big deal for investors, too.

Just a week or so ago, The Washington Post shocked the sports world. It was the first to report that the league office had written to the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) … offering to work alongside them to study the potential use of marijuana as a pain-management tool for players.

It’s a clear sign that the NFL is willing to work cooperatively with the union toward legal medical marijuana use.

For those of you who don’t know, marijuana of any kind is currently banned by the governing body of America’s most-popular professional sport.

If a player skips a drug test, or tests positive for pot use, he risks a fine or suspension … or both.

But the NFLPA wants to change all of that as many former players seek alternative pain-management treatments.

During a typical NFL season, players average about six to seven pain pills or injections a week. And retired players use opioids at a rate 4x that of the general population.

That’s because there’s growing awareness of the dangers of painkillers and anti-inflammatories — such as Toradol — which are often overprescribed by team physicians.

Consider this: The NFL’s overreliance on drugs for pain management has become so far-reaching that it’s attracted a federal investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration.

A DEA investigation into the NFL — yikes!

In fact, one study showed that retired NFL players use opioids at four-times the rate of the general population.

Yes, you read that right: Opioid use after the NFL is at four-times the rate of the general population. That’s shocking!

Indeed, The Washington Post reported earlier this year that NFL teams are heavy users of prescription pain medications. During a typical NFL season, they average about six to seven pain pills or injections a week per player. Wow!

It’s obvious from these reports that the NFL is pumping its players full of highly addictive and deadly substances. Ones that are of dubious use for treating the long-term, chronic pain that so many players suffer. And it fines and suspends players who prefer to self-medicate with a less-addictive and nonlethal substance.

Here’s a chart that I shared with you recently, when we looked at how pot is set to cause a world of pain for Big Pharma . It was published in the Health Affairs journal.

And it shows why the NFL could end up changing its stance on marijuana …

Click image for larger view

As you can see for yourself, pain patients are increasingly choosing pot over powerful — and potentially deadly — prescription narcotics in states that have legalized the use of medical marijuana.

What’s more, CBS News reports that a whopping 76% of doctors in the U.S. favor legalized marijuana. So, it’s only a matter of time before patients begin choosing marijuana over morphine.

These facts likely led NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to recently tell The Denver Post:

“If pain management is something that medical marijuana can address responsibly, that’s something that our medical community is evaluating … if they can address pain management in an effective and safe fashion.”

But the most powerful man in the NFL — Jerry Jones, the owner of the Dallas Cowboys — left no doubt about his position on pot. He told his fellow owners at a recent meeting that the league should “drop its prohibition on marijuana use,” according to Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio.

Just like Joe Kennedy Sr. — who made a fortune when Prohibition was repealed in the 1930s — Jerry Jones is a savvy businessman who knows how to make money.

That’s why Sean Brodrick and I recently developed the premium Marijuana Millionaire premium subscription service. So you can get in the game, too, and profit as marijuana goes mainstream with American’s favorite sport. Click here to learn more about it … before it’s too late.

Let the games begin!

Best wishes,
Bill Hall

P.S. All enrollment for my Marijuana Millionaire wealth-building service must close TODAY. I don’t know when — if ever — I will be able to accept new members in the future. So if the idea of multiplying your wealth 10 times … 20 times … even fifty times over with stocks in this up-and coming sector sounds good, I need to hear from you IMMEDIATELY.

Please click this link for all the details and get on-board, before I must close the doors for good.

Bill Hall is the editor of the Safe Money Report. He is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and Certified Financial Planner (CFP). Besides his editorial duties with Weiss Research, Bill is the managing director of Plimsoll Mark Capital, a firm that provides financial, tax and investment advice to wealthy families all over the world.