Roger Goodell said on Friday that the NFL sees no medical benefits to the use of marijuana. 

Goodell's comments came amid a federal lawsuit filed by more than 1,800 former players who say they suffered long-term health problems because of improper and deceptive prescription drug-distribution practices by NFL teams.

"We've been studying that through our advisers," Goodell said. "To date, they haven't said, 'This is a change we think you should make that is in the best interest of the health and safety of our players.' If they do, we're certainly going to consider that. But to date, they haven't really said that.

Goodell did add that "medical marijuana is something that is evolving, and that's something that at some point the medical advisers may come to us and say, 'This is something you should consider.'"

Goodell's comments Friday morning suggest the league has no plans to reconsider the possibility of allowing players to use marijuana.

"I think you still have to look at a lot of aspects of marijuana use," Goodell said. "Is it something that can be negative to the health of our players?

"Listen, you're ingesting smoke, so that's not usually a very positive thing that people would say. It does have addictive nature. There are a lot of compounds in marijuana that may not be healthy for the players long-term. All of those things have to be considered.

"And it's not as simple as someone just wants to feel better after a game. We really want to help our players in that circumstance, but I want to make sure that the negative consequences aren't something that is going to be something that we'll be held accountable for some years down the road."