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."  
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D