Upon the conclusion of the 2016 regular season, Buffalo Bills offensive lineman Seantrel Henderson will have sat out nine games for twice violating the NFL's substance-abuse policy.
But with the merit for the punishment a topic of controversy, Henderson is exploring legal options against the league to recoup his losses, The Buffalo News reported.
On Tuesday, the NFL announced a 10-game ban for the third-year player, who missed the first four weeks of the season after testing positive for marijuana for a first time. Should the Bills (6-5) fail to make the playoffs, the latest suspension would result in Henderson missing the first five weeks of the 2017 season.
MORE: NFL needs to rethink its policy on marijuana
Henderson, whose drug use in college caused his draft stock to plummet in 2014, has maintained he uses marijuana to help manage the pain of Crohn's disease, a condition for which he underwent two intestinal surgeries in the offseason.
"He needs cannabis. You can't take pain killers with the way his intestines are," a source told NFL.com Sunday when news of the suspension first broke.
George Atallah, the NFL Players Association assistant executive director of external affairs, said earlier this month the union would form a committee to study pain management and "look at all ailments facing our members with marijuana only one substance of a much bigger issue."
Two days before Atallah's comments, voters in California, Massachusetts and Nevada approved the recreational use of marijuana. Twenty-eight states and Washington, D.C. now allow it for medicinal purposes. Nonetheless, the NFL and NFLPA have said there are no immediate plans to alter the drug policy to allow for the prescription of marijuana as a pain management tool, despite a vocal push from some players to do so.
MORE: Week 13 NFL Power Rankings
Earlier this season, Eagles offensive lineman Lane Johnson filed an unfair labor practice complaint against the NFL and the NFLPA with the National Labor Relations Board, stemming from a 10-game suspension for a second failed performance-enhancing drug test.
Johnson and his attorneys had said he unknowingly ingested the banned substance included in a supplement regimen. Green Bay Packers defensive lineman Mike Pennel is also suiing the league over his possible 10-game suspension for a violation of the league's substance abuse policy.
Johnson and his attorneys had said he unknowingly ingested the banned substance included in a supplement regimen.
