Pubdate: Fri, 07 Feb 2014 Source: Edmonton Sun (CN AB) Copyright: 2014 Canoe Limited Partnership. Contact: http://www.edmontonsun.com Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/135 Author: Bill Lankhof OFF-SEASON DRUG TESTING EASY TO BEAT Marijuana Is Legal In Colorado And In The State Of Washington. Despite the lure of the wheedling weed, neither the Seahawks or the Broncos were late for their Super Bowl date because someone went mad for munchies and commandeered the team bus to stop at every 7-Eleven on the way to the ball yard. Medicinal marijuana is now legal in 20 states. But, not in the current state that is the National Football League. Perhaps, it is time. Players use it anyway, despite the league's drug testing policies. Many see it as the lesser evil to dull the pain in bodies that are savaged weekly. They see it as less addictive than prescription painkillers. So far, commissioner Roger Goodell doesn't see it that way - but then, if overindulging on hors d'oeuvres in the comfort of those luxury boxes most weekends, the only thing he's in danger of breaking might be wind. With the rules committee meetings on the horizon there will be talk again about changes to video replays. Panthers coach Ron Rivera spoke Thursday of Job 1 being clarification of pass interference rules. All good. But where there is smoke, the saying goes, there is fire. And it's just too bad that the hot topic for players will not be discussed there, or anywhere else, according to Goodell. "It is still an illegal substance on a national basis," said the commissioner, sounding a lot like my father, before asking if it really, really was going to be necessary for him to get out the belt (ouch!). "It is questionable as to the positive impacts, in the face of the very strong evidence of the negative effects ..." But, then, he has never had a Lion hunter named Suh plunk on his head. Never woken Monday morning after Jared Allen has played Scud Missile Attack all over his quarterbacking backside. Never spent a Sunday afternoon running headfirst into a Mac Truck with a licence plate reading: Lynch 1. Ryan Clark, a 12-year veteran acknowledged on Thursday that while the use of marijuana may not be pervasive, it also is not unusual. Clark told ESPN he is aware of players, including teammates with the Steelers, who use it - mostly to relieve pain or to diffuse pressure. "Guys feel like, 'If I can do this, it keeps me away from maybe Vicodin, it keeps me away from pain prescription drugs and things that guys get addicted to.' Guys look at this as a more natural way to heal, to stress relieve and also ... for pain." It is rarely, he said, merely recreational. "I know guys on my team who smoke," Clark said. "And it's not a situation where you think, 'Oh, these are guys trying to be cool.'" His comments echo those of Antonio Cromartie, who told an entertainment website during the Super Bowl that the league needs to revisit its ban. Even Seahawks coach Pete Carroll has indicated he believes the league needs to investigate medicinal marijuana to see if it can help players. Meantime, players continue to blow smoke up Goodell's assertion that the league is serious about halting the use of pot. "We're just going to do it anyway," Cromartie (who tweeted later that he doesn't smoke himself - and we believe him. Really.) told Thisis50.com, "They just need to let it go. They need to go ahead and say, 'Y'all go ahead, smoke it, do what you need to do.'" Clark agreed. As for the league's testing system, it has more holes than the Broncos' Super Bowl defence. "They're fighting a losing battle. The testing isn't stringent," Clark said. "There is one random test during OTAs and minicamps during the off-season and everybody will be tested early in training camp. After that, there are no more tests. So guys understand the ways to get around failing a drug test." - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D