Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman was in the headlines Wednesday for comments he made concerning rampant use of Adderall in the NFL.
Sherman was quoted as saying, "About half the league takes it and the league has to allow it. The league made a mistake in my case. Obviously, I didn't do anything, but you have to go through a process to prove you didn't do anything. There are still naysayers out there who don't believe me. But I accept it. If everybody loves you, it probably means you're not much of a player."
Now, Sherman is backing off his statements on NFL AM, saying a "bunch" of NFL players are using Adderall correctly. "They're taking it for legitimate reasons. There's a reason it's been prescribed for them." When asked how taking Adderall would benefit a player who did not need the drug to control his attention deficit disorder, Sherman replied, "I don't know. I never took it."
Sherman's remarks drew the ire of the NFL, who responded with a statement that read, "The comments are ill-informed and inaccurate. Adderall is easily detected under current testing and will result in a suspension absent an approved therapeutic use exemption. If his statement were true, we would be seeing many more positive tests and suspensions. More importantly, his comments are irresponsible, as they ignore the serious medical risks and documented public health crisis associated with the improper use of Adderall and similar drugs."
While backing off his initial comments about the NFL making Adderall legal, and that half the league is using it, he indicated he still thinks it should not be treated as equal to steroid use.
"I've never heard a prescribed drug called a performance enhancer in any other sport," Sherman said. The thing that people don't understood is that it's a prescribed drug that some people have to take." Sherman also said that players caught using Adderall should receive a lesser penalty than for traditional steroids. He qualified that, though, by saying if it can be scientifically proven that Adderall acts as a performance enhancer, that the punishment should remain severe.
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