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DEA agents check out Niners’ medical staff at MetLife Stadium

DEA agents paid an unannounced visit to today’s Giants-49ers game at MetLife Stadium, spot-checking the San Francisco team, as part of an investigation into prescription drug practices throughout the league.

Photo Credit: Cliffview Pilot File Photo

San Francisco, Tampa Bay and Seattle were among the random spot-checked visiting teams, according to published reports and team statements.

“DEA agents are currently interviewing NFL team doctors in several locations as part of an ongoing investigation into potential violations of the [Controlled Substances Act],” Drug Enforcement Administration spokesman Rusty Payne said.

The agency didn’t target any teams. Its agents requested documentation from medical staffs on the visiting teams about any drugs they had, as well as proof that the team doctors could practice medicine in the home team’s state.

“Our teams cooperated with the DEA today and we have no information to indicate that irregularities were found,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy.

Heading the investigation is the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, where the NFL is headquartered, with other federal offices and agencies participating nationwide.

It’s driven by a lawsuit filed in May on behalf of former NFL players — some 1,200 in all, including dozens who played as recently as 2012 — over the way locker-room and team-flight medications are dispensed.

The suit accuses the league, teams, physicians and trainers with dishing out painkillers “like candy at Halloween” to keep players on the field without regard for their health, leading to chronic muscle and bone afflictions, permanent nerve and organ damage and addiction.

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