light sensitivity, and memory problems. Turley has been active in speaking about his personal experiences dealing with head trauma-related health issues and participating in efforts to reduce risks for current and future players. He testified before Congress in January 2010, giving account of a severe concussion sustained during the 2003 season and the medical care he received afterwards – noting that team doctors cleared his return to the field three days after being released from the hospital. Turley was a plaintiff in a class action lawsuit filed against the NFL seeking medical benefits and compensation for former players suffering from the effects of head trauma, initially resulting in a 2013 settlement of $765 million but later amended to allow for a payout expected to exceed $1 billion. Turley was featured in the 2013 documentary United States of Football'' examining issues of neurological health in the NFL and youth league football, and has been involved with efforts to educate and assist youth sports programs in head trauma prevention through the Just Cool Me - T.K.O. initiative. Turley has agreed to donate his brain posthumously to the Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy at Boston University to help advance research in the area of sports-related neurological disorders. Painkiller addiction Turley retired from football with an addiction to pain-killing drugs. He has criticized the manner in which painkillers are dispensed by medical staff in the NFL, stating that pills were handed out to players "like candy" after games. Turley also says team doctors gave him painkillers while concealing the true nature of a serious back injury in 2003, in an effort to keep him on the playing field until season's end. The condition required major surgery in the offseason and eventually led to his release from the Rams, also threatening to end his career at one point. In 2014, Turley was one of more than 500 former players who took part in a class action lawsuit against the NFL alleging similar complaints, also charging that team medical personnel neglected to inform players of the serious health risks of the drugs they were taking. Medical cannabis Turley uses cannabis to treat the neurological issues that he suffers from post-NFL career. He credits cannabis with greatly improving his quality of life and even saving his life, after previously relying on numerous prescription medications with side effects that he says almost drove him to suicide.