Pubdate: Sun, 12 Aug 2012 Source: Orlando Sentinel (FL) Copyright: 2012 Orlando Sentinel Contact: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/325 Author: Mike Bianchi GREG REID SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN DISMISSED FROM FSU AFTER MARIJUANA CHARGE TALLAHASSEE -- Florida State's national championship-contending football program held its annual media day on Sunday, but, sadly, cornerback Greg Reid -- a media favorite, a team leader and one of the Seminoles' best players -- wasn't there. He should have been. But he was dismissed from the team last week following a traffic arrest in which he was charged with a misdemeanor when police found a small amount of marijuana in his car. Ironically, if Reid had been arrested for DUI with an open bottle of Jack Daniels in the front seat, he'd probably still be on the team. "We look at alcohol like it's not a problem," FSU coach Jimbo Fisher said Sunday during an engrossing, emotional dialogue about substance abuse in college football. "Alcohol isn't illegal, and I understand that, but I'll tell you what, it causes as many deaths and bad circumstances as any other drug. But alcohol is accepted." Fisher looks around at the horde of media members: "What if somebody told everybody in this room that you can't drink a beer again or you're going to get fired?" The fact is marijuana has become like Miller Lite for many college and professional athletes. Fisher has not stated a reason as to why Reid, a senior cornerback, was suddenly and shockingly dismissed from the team after a relatively minor marijuana offense. There has been rampant speculation that Reid may have surpassed FSU's three-strikes-and-you're-out university policy for testing positive for marijuana. This is one of my biggest pet peeves in sports and society -- why alcohol is legal and accepted and marijuana is not. As Fisher himself stated, alcohol is responsible for as much (actually more) death and destruction than marijuana or any other drug. I've written it once and I'll keep writing it: The legality of the two substances notwithstanding, nobody can deny that alcohol causes much more pain and suffering in sports than marijuana. Athletes don't traditionally smoke marijuana and get behind the wheel of a car and kill people. Or smoke marijuana and beat up their girlfriends. Or smoke marijuana and get into bar fights. These are usually alcohol-related transgressions. The only carnage athletes administer after smoking pot is usually to a bag of Doritos or a box of Twinkies. Full disclosure: I don't smoke pot although I do like to have a couple of beers on occasion. But even the most avid beer lover can't deny that booze is much more destructive than bongs. Personally, I don't believe sports leagues -- colleges, included -- should even test for marijuana. The latest NCAA report released in January found that more than one in four -- 26.7 percent -- college football players said they smoked marijuana. Fisher believes marijuana testing should be continued for players, but not to "catch them but to help them." He says marijuana has become an "epidemic" in colleges today, even more so than in the 1960s. "I think it's bigger than it's ever been in our society, including Woodstock and any of that," Fisher said. "aE& It's a tremendous issue at high school and junior high levels, too. "aE& There's more drug and alcohol abuse in this country than there's ever been. We can stick our head in the sand and act like it's not there, but it is. It doesn't make them bad kids; it's our job to help fix it." One way to start is to stop kicking college kids out of school and stigmatizing them for testing positive for pot. This would be like kicking senior citizens out of The Villages for testing positive for Viagra. College football should be like the NBA, which tests players for marijuana, provides them drug-counseling if necessary but rarely suspends them. Fisher says we all should remember how some of these players grew up before we start judging them. Many come from disadvantaged backgrounds where drug use is prevalent. "When they step into their house, people are smoking marijuana like you do cigarettes from the time they're 3-years-old until they're 18," Fisher says. "aE& They do these things their whole life and then they come here and we say, 'Now you can't do them anymore.' You don't automatically [just stop doing them]." And let's also remember why pot is illegal in the first place. MSNBC did some research a few years ago and found marijuana was outlawed in the 1930s mainly because of the ridiculous and racist rhetoric of former federal narcotics commissioner Harry Anslinger, who believed marijuana made black men "think they're as good as white men." "There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the U.S., and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos and entertainers," Anslinger ranted to Congress back then. "Their satanic music, jazz and swing, result from marijuana use. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers, and any others. . aE& Marijuana leads to pacifism and communist brainwashing. aE& Marijuana is the most violence-causing drug in the history of mankind." Obviously, Anslinger was a lunatic, but nearly a century later his maniacal influence is still being felt. Not only in the American judicial system, but in college football drug-testing policies as well. - --- MAP posted-by: Matt