According to court documents, Randy Gregory, an outside linebacker for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, has filed a lawsuit against the NFL, alleging discrimination and demanding repayment of fines totaling more than $500,000 imposed by the league for using THC prescribed by a doctor to treat social anxiety disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Gregory named the Denver Broncos, his former team, in the complaint, which he filed this week in Arapahoe County (Colo.) District Court. As per the collective bargaining agreement with the NFLPA, only the NFL, not teams, can impose sanctions for infractions of its substance-abuse policy, even if the Broncos are mentioned.
According to the lawsuit, Dronabinol, a synthetic cannabis product, was prescribed to Gregory in order to treat his recognized medical conditions. Although THC use is no longer grounds for suspension by the NFL, players who test positive for the drug face ever-increasing fines. Attorney Spencer Kontnik filed the action, alleging that since March 2023, the league has fined Gregory $532,500. He played for the Broncos and the 49ers between then and the end of the 2023 season before signing an offseason deal with the Buccaneers.
Gregory originally requested authorization from the league in March 2023 to use Dronabinol outside of work, but the league allegedly turned him down. According to the lawsuit, it is discriminatory under Colorado law for the league and club to not allow Gregory to take the prescribed medication in spite of their unwillingness to make “reasonable accommodations.”
In the case, Gregory claims that he is entitled to damages “upon trial, including, but not limited to, recovery of the monetary penalty that Mr. Gregory was obliged to pay, including interest to the fullest extent permissible by law.”
In March 2022, Gregory, who has been candid in the past about his social anxiety disorder, signed a five-year deal with the Broncos that guaranteed $28 million. He only appeared in ten Broncos games. Due to a knee injury, he missed a large portion of the 2022 season and was traded after just four games in 2023. In his 12 games with the 49ers the previous season, he recorded 2 1/2 sacks and saw action in each of the team’s three postseason contests.
During his early career, the NFL regularly punished Gregory for breaking its drug-abuse policies when the organization still used that power as a sanction. During his time playing with the Dallas Cowboys, he was suspended for the whole of the 2017 and 2019 seasons.
Gregory, a second-round selection by the Buccaneers in 2016 out of Nebraska, inked a one-year contract in April.
(Photo: Cooper Neill / Getty Images)
