Seahawks, Chiefs Part of NFL Prescription Drug Investigation – More Teams To Be Looked At

Seattle Seahawk and Kansas City Chief officials confirmed they were one of the teams "visited" by DEA agents as part of an investigation into alleged prescription medication abuse in the NFL.  Some experts say this could be the biggest issue to rock the NFL ever.

The Hawks, Chiefs, Buccaneers,  and 49ers' were all "visited" unexpectedly in their locker rooms either before or after their games this last Sunday by Drug Enforcement Agency agents as  part of an ongoing investigation that started earlier this year. More unexpected visits are expected in the coming weeks across the league.

While most sports fans had little clue,  in May a group of former players filed a class-action lawsuit against the NFL, claiming prescription medications were misused to help players 'stay on the field' and nurse injuries.   The suit, which now has hundreds of former players participating, claims the league misused painkillers for the players, and many now suffer from ailments ranging from addiction to physical blackouts.

The players claim the painkiller Toradol was given out "like candy" (according to some), but players were not told the blood-thinning drug can often mask signs of concussions in athletes.   Joe Horn, a former standout for the New Orleans Saints, Falcons and Chiefs for 12 years, says "we took it like clockwork."

Horn, and another former well-known player, Jerome Pathon, who both played in the late 1990's through the mid 2000's, now say they suffer from dizziness, blackouts, short-term memory loss and difficulty sleeping.   The suit also claims various painkillers were handed out without prescriptions, and with "little regard for a player's medical history or potentially fatal interactions with other medications."  (Bold lettering added for emphasis). 

The lawsuit filed in May is on behalf of players who's careers went as far back as 1968.  If you include them,  there's over 1,200 players listed as plaintiffs.   Federal investigators have conducted dozens of interviews over the last few weeks and months, but Sunday was the first time they "raided"  locker rooms and questioned team medical staffs.

All of the NFL teams mentioned, including the Seahawks, were found by investigators to have "no irregularities or issues" according to the feds.

According to The Sporting News:

"Several former players interviewed by The Associated Press described the line of teammates waiting to get injections on game day often spilling out from the training room. Others recounted flights home from games where trainers walked down the aisle and players held up a number of fingers to indicate how many pills they wanted."

On the heels of the Ray Rice domestic violence debacle, in which the league is being criticized for "double jeopardy" for allegedly punishing Rice twice,  this new suit comes at a very bad time.   The NFL is also trying to finalize a $765 million dollar class-action suit reached last August over the league reportedly concealing the long-term effect of concussions.  Several thousand former players also were a part of that suit.   Some of the more prominent players featured are suffering serious degenerative neurological issues.