Athletics and Cannabis: Performance and Pain Management
“When we talk about having elite athletes use CBD to treat pain, we want to make sure it’s, №1 safe, and №2 efficacious. — Dr. Kevin Hill, Co-chair of the Pain Management Committee, NFL
Recently, the NFL made headlines announcing that the pain management committee will provide $1 million in funding for research into pain management and cannabinoids. The NFL is one of many leagues where professional athletes have been vocal about their usage of cannabis-related products for support, but lags far behind leagues like the MLB where cannabis is now no longer on the banned substances list, and is instead treated similarly to alcohol consumption. Consumption of cannabis by athletes for enhanced training and improved recovery is nothing new, but seeing leagues in the U.S. adopting policies reinforces that people are looking for alternatives to the traditional CPG solutions.
Cannabis and Sports
Cannabis consumption and sports have a long history, but recently has come to the forefront with accelerated progress around legalization. Athletes and organizations like Athletes for Care are setting out to change policy and remove stigmas associated with usage. Progress has been made with leagues like the MLB, but others have policies discouraging athletes from endorsing products containing cannabis or CBD. With more states legalizing and federal change on the horizon, combined with headlines like the NFL’s commitment to research, we may see further loosening of restrictions.
Supporting Training Performance
A common example of cannabis usage and athletics is related to training, with some athletes, like Flavie Dokken, an endurance runner receiving a sponsorship from Colorado-based Wana Edibles.
In a Vice article covering the subject, Flavie mentions consuming 5mg of THC for training, in particular to help with tuning into her breathing during ultramarathon training, while abstaining prior to races for drug testing purposes. This fits into the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Code which permits THC within random out-of-competition drug tests, but prohibits it during post-race or in-competition testing.
Cannabis for Recovery
An even more prominent scenario for athletes is with pain management and recovery. Rob Gronkowski, former New England Patriot endorsed a CBD line of products after being introduced to the brand by his father, who was using it to help with back pain. Riley Cote, a former Philadelphia Flyer in the NHL mentions that on the road, he would have preferred cannabis to help with pain, sleep and anxiety over team-supplied painkillers.
Pain Management and Pharmaceutical Alternatives
Adult-use cannabis goes beyond recreational usage and intowellness and pain management, often in formats like Topicals, Capsules, Tinctures and Sublinguals.
If cannabis and pain management works for athletes, it most certainly works for the general consumer. With the population aging, a larger audience is looking at cannabis as an alternative for traditional OTC and prescription pharmaceutical products. Products like GSK’s Voltaren have counterparts in cannabis like Papa & Barkley’s Releaf line, which contains a blend of both THC and CBD.
There are a number of formats of cannabis, but for pain management Topical-based products, primarily those that contain some combination of both THC and CBD, can be complimentary to what one might find at the local pharmacy. Often an older consumer is purchasing these types of CPG products and this mirrors the data we see in cannabis, with older populations like Generation X and Baby Boomers Topicals overindexed in Topical sales — — meaning they are spending more vs. other younger generations.
The Conversation is Just Starting
With all this progress, there is yet a long way to go to complete acceptance and general adoption, but with news like the NFL’s commitment of $1M to support research into cannabis’ efficacy in athletics we see a start.
What to Watch For
- The Co-Chair of the NFL Pain Management Committee wrote a book on the subject of cannabis which was less than favorable. Will this bring any bias into the result or will the research be able to stand on its own?
- With further league’s adopting favorable cannabis policies, will we see a larger uptick in consumption by the general consumer as the stigma around cannabis consumption goes away?
- Pain management seems to have some of the largest support, but will adoption of cannabis into a training regimen become more socially acceptable?
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