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NFL teams get surprise visits from federal drug agents

Agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration interviewed doctors and trainers of several NFL teams after their games Sunday, November 16.
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(CNN) — Agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration interviewed doctors and trainers of several NFL teams after their games Sunday, November 16, 2014, part of an investigation into allegations of illegal dispensing of prescription drugs.

The DEA questioned the medical and training staffs of the San Francisco 49ers following the team’s 16-10 victory at the New York Giants, agency spokesman Rusty Payne told CNN.

The 49ers cooperated with the “random inspection” at MetLife Stadium, the team’s director of communications, Bob Lange, said. The team departed the stadium as scheduled, he added.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers announced via Twitter that the DEA “checked in” with the team at the Baltimore-Washington International Airport. After a five-minute delay, the team proceeded to its plane without incident, the team said.

A justice department official told CNN that DEA agents interviewed team doctors at “several locations.”

There were reports that doctors of other NFL teams were questioned Sunday, but the DEA did not immediately confirm.

The DEA investigation stems from allegations in a lawsuit filed by 1,300 former NFL players that the league illegally provided powerful painkillers and other prescription drugs to keep them on the field.

Related: Source: DEA probing alleged prescription drug abuse in NFL

The class-action lawsuit was filed in California in May.

Other allegations include that drugs were being administered by staff — specifically athletic trainers — lacking the licenses to do so. If true, these actions would violate the Controlled Substances Act.

Sunday’s questioning of doctors and trainers were administrative and not criminal, Payne said. No arrests were made, he said.

“Our teams cooperated with the DEA today, and we have no information to indicate that irregularities were found,” said Brian McCarthy, the NFL’s vice president of corporate communications.

The players’ suit accuses NFL trainers of handing out pills without prescriptions and without regard to possible dangerous interactions with other drugs.

The named players in the lawsuit include former Chicago Bears quarterback Jim McMahon who, according to the lawsuit, says he got hooked on painkillers by taking as many as 100 Percocet pills a month.

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