Football’s sleeping pills problem: ‘My usage was ridiculous – I was in La La Land’

“… Striker Omar Bogle, who plays for Crewe Alexandra in League Two, is recalling to The Athletic the frightening moment last year when he became addicted to sleeping pills and painkillers. He initially started taking the pills after suffering a back fracture during pre-season in the summer of 2024. Bogle described the back fracture as the worst pain he’d ever felt. In agony and struggling to sleep, he turned to sleeping pills and, similarly to the painkillers he was taking, at the beginning, he found them helpful.