Agents from the federal Drug Enforcement Administration surprised visiting NFL teams with inspections of medical and training staffs to uncover possible violations of national drug laws concerning the handling and distribution of prescription painkillers, ESPN reported.
These unprecedented inspections were inspired by a May 2014 federal lawsuit filed by several NFL players who claimed that training staffs and team doctors regularly gave them painkillers illegally to treat injuries and enable them to play on game day.
"DEA agents are currently interviewing NFL team doctors in several locations as part of an ongoing investigation into potential violations of the Controlled Substances Act," DEA spokesman Rusty Payne said Sunday. "The Drug Enforcement Administration has a responsibility under the Controlled Substances Act to ensure that registrants who possess, prescribe and dispense controlled substances are following the law."
The San Francisco 49ers, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Seattle Seahawks all confirmed that DEA agents arrived to inspect their medical staffs following each team's road game on Sunday.
"What we were told was they are random checks of team physicians as they travel to see if anyone is transporting controlled substances across state lines," 49ers spokesman Bob Lange said after Sunday's game against the Giants. "The 49ers' medical staff complied, and the team departed the stadium as scheduled."
NFL Spokesman Brian McCarthy later said in a statement that, "Our teams cooperated with the DEA today and we have no information to indicate that irregularities were found."
"I think it's great that the DEA is taking this seriously," said Phil Closius, an attorney representing the former NFL players involved in the ongoing federal lawsuit. "We alleged back on May 20 that the NFL was issuing these controlled substances and prescription medicines in an illegal manner, and nobody has really disputed the factual basis of that claim."
According to the federal Controlled Substances Act, doctors are not permitted to provide players with prescription drugs such as Vicodin, Percocet and OxyContin outside of team facilities where they are registered with the DEA to prescribe such medicines. Trainers are not allowed under national drug laws to ever give players prescription medication. However, the DEA believes that these laws are routinely violated, especially by visiting NFL teams.
"NFL doctors are not obtaining a separate registration where they are administering controlled substances to NFL players. They are administering in different states and treating players at hotels and stadiums outside of their registered location with the DEA," ESPN's source explained.
The DEA is also concerned that proper documentation of which drugs are administered to which players is not being kept by NFL teams.
"Our intelligence suggests controlled substances are not properly logged to specific players," ESPN's source said.
