NFL Funds Cannabis Pain Relief Study With $1 Million Grant To UC San Diego

The National Football League has awarded $1 million to UC San Diego to research the impact of cannabis and CBD on pain management and recovery from sports.

They announced they would be awarding the money to two medical research teams, the other being the University of Regina in Canada, on Tuesday, February 1.

According to the Times of San Diego, UCSD was selected among 106 submissions for research proposals executed by the NFL-NFLPA Joint Pain Management Committee. The UCSD team's proposal assesses the therapeutic potential for cannabis for "relief of post-competition soft-tissue injury pain in elite athletes."

Athletes outside of the NFL will be given vaporized treatment after game-related injuries, with outcomes monitored via remote phone apps, according to an NFL statement. They will receive treatments of either 4% THC, 12% CBD, a combination of CBD and THC, or a placebo.

In a USCD Health statement, it was revealed that professional rugby players were chosen for the initial trial.

“Our team is excited to receive this funding to conduct a systematic, `real-world, real-time’ study with professional athletes, and which should shed further light upon the many anecdotal reports that cannabis is helpful in reducing post-competition pain,” said Dr. Mark Wallace, co-principal investigator, and director of the Center for Pain Medicine at UC San Diego Health.