Federal drug agents conducted surprise inspections of NFL team medical staffs on Sunday as part of an ongoing investigation into prescription drug abuse in the league.
The Seattle Seahawks, who lost to the Chiefs on Sunday in Kansas City, confirmed that they had received a visit from the DEA today. The Chiefs, meanwhile, said they were not aware of the Drug Enforcement Administration being at Arrowhead Stadium.
The inspections, which entailed bag searches and questioning of team doctors by DEA agents in cooperation with the Transportation Security Administration, were based on the suspicion that NFL teams dispense drugs illegally to keep players on the field in violation of the Controlled Substances Act, according to a senior law enforcement official with knowledge of the investigation.
The medical staffs were part of travel parties whose teams were playing at stadiums across the country. The law enforcement official said DEA agents inspected the medical staffs of multiple teams.
In addition to the Seahawks, the San Francisco 49ers said they were inspected by federal agents following their game against the New York Giants in New Jersey.
Contrary to early reports, the law enforcement official said the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were not among the teams inspected by the DEA.
The DEA had reason to look at those teams in particular, but the investigation is not restricted to them, according to the law enforcement official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the probe is ongoing.
The official said the investigation focuses on practices across the 32-team league, including possible distribution of drugs without prescriptions or labels, and the dispensing of drugs by trainers rather than physicians.
NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said its teams cooperated with the DEA inspectors, and we have no information to indicate that irregularities were found.
Federal law prohibits anyone but a physician or nurse practitioner from distributing prescription drugs, and they must meet myriad regulations for acquiring, storing, labeling and transporting them. It is also illegal for a physician to distribute prescription drugs outside of his geographic area of practice. And it is illegal for trainers to dispense, or even handle, controlled substances in any way.
DEA spokesman Rusty Payne confirmed the existence of the investigation and said it was triggered by a class-action lawsuit filed in federal court in May by more than 1,300 retired NFL players. In the lawsuit, they allege that NFL medical staffs regularly violate federal and state laws by plying their teams with powerful addictive narcotics such as Percocet and Percodan, sleeping pills such as Ambien, and the non-addictive painkiller Toradol to help them play through injuries on game days.
Agents began interviewing NFL physicians in several locations, Payne said, after reviewing material contained in the lawsuit. Players described being given unlabeled medications in hazardous combinations, teams filling out prescriptions in players names without their knowledge, trainers passing out pills in hotels or locker rooms, and medications handed out on team planes after games while alcohol was consumed.
Payne characterized the DEA actions on Sunday as administrative, aimed at discerning whether NFL medical staffs adhere to federal regulations governing the dispensing of controlled substances across state lines.
Penalties can range from suspension or revocation of licenses, civil fines or prosecution.
Those with knowledge of the case said the DEA is working with the office of the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and met with investigators from that office recently.
The DEA is investigating all staffers on the NFL teams who may have access to prescription medications who should not, especially trainers, who regularly treat players ailments and injuries, said those familiar with the probe.
Sundays inspections were based on information the DEA had gathered over the past few months in interviews about the NFLs practices.
A blueprint for the DEAs lines of inquiry can be found in the specifics of the class-action lawsuit filed in Northern California. Prominent plaintiffs such as former Chicago Bears quarterback Jim McMahon, former 49ers center Jeremy Newberry and former defensive end Marcellus Wiley, who is now an ESPN commentator, detailed physicians and trainers handing out addictive painkillers without prescriptions, in dangerous combinations, to mask injuries.
The NFL last month asked U.S. District Judge William Alsup to throw out the lawsuit, arguing that teams, not the league, are responsible for the medical decisions and that litigation isnt the proper mechanism for an NFL grievance under terms of the collective bargaining agreement between players and owners. Alsup has yet to rule on the NFLs request.
The DEAs investigative interest in the NFL is partly based on the agencys conviction that lackadaisical prescribing practices create addicts. A 2010 study of 644 league veterans from the Washington University School of Medicine found that retired NFL players misuse opioids at a rate more than four times that of their peers.
Source: http://www.kansascity.com/sports/nfl/article3976122.html
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