Pubdate: Sun, 21 Aug 2016
Source: Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, FL)
Copyright: 2016 Sun-Sentinel Company
Contact: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sfl-letters-to-the-editor-htmlstory.html
Website: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/159
Author: Dave Hyde

TIME FOR SPORTS TO GET OUT OF POT TESTING

In 2009, when Ricky Williams studied as a masseuse and gaveme a 
Japanese shiatsu massage, the subject of marijuana came up-this is 
where conversations could go during deep-tissue revitalization with 
Ricky- and he said something ahead of its time. "Why does the NFL 
even care about catching players smoking pot?" he said. "How does 
that benefit anyone?"

Have we advanced enough to ask this in 2016?

Ricky's affinity for the herb led to suspensions, contributed to 
failed Dolphins seasons and has moved him to being a 
life-after-football spokesman for pot's benefits.

And in a karmic lesson that all things even out, the Dolphins 
benefited from the NFL's continued fear of marijuana by having 
offensive linemen Laremy Tunsil drop in their lap during this year's draft.

And, yes, it is a fear. Not of marijuana's ills, of which there are 
some, similar to alcohol's. Nor is it the fear of a serious drug 
problem, where a player needs help, and leads to the Dolphins' Dion 
Jordan being suspended for a year or Buffalo defensive tackle Marcell 
Dareus entering a rehab center Saturday.

The fear with pot is simpler and slipperier. It's fear of taking a 
player who could be suspended down the line. It's also fear of public 
relations, of the grander society seeing a kid in a smoky gas mask 
and saying... what? "Tsk-tsk?"

It's easy to make fun of anyone at that moment. It's easier still to 
say it's against the league rules, the tests are scheduled and, 
therefore, only the dumb ones get caught.

But that sidesteps the larger issue that keeps arising.

Why do sports leagues still go here? Isn't marijuana far down the 
list of problems a kid can have? Do leagues need to go inside private 
rooms or hermetically sealed gas masks?

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver knows. The NBA tests for marijuana and, 
after three positive tests, suspends players five games (6 percent of 
the season). The NFL's suspension is a draconian 25 percent of the 
season (four games).

"We're much more concerned about HGH testing and designer 
performance-enhancing drugs ," Silver told GQ Magazine.

The funny part is, NFL teams know this. They don't fear pot. They 
treat it as information-gathering to test 300 college kids for pot at 
the scouting combine. They think it's self-defeating that Pittsburgh 
running back Le'Veon Bell is suspended three games for missing 
several drug tests (reduced from four this week by the league).

They know there are more serious issues out there, too. These are the 
ones they've shielded from the public to protect the shield's image. 
In the1970s, the pain-killing lidocaine or anti-inflammatory 
cortisone were the drugs of choice inside the NFL.

Never mind the way those drugs ravaged bodies. The Dolphins' team 
doctor navigated the pregame locker room with a tray of shots, 
saying, "Who needs me?" Some players stepped outside, so many shots were given.

In recent years, the antiinflammatory drug ketorolac has been popular 
inside locker rooms. When the Dolphins refused to give it to players 
due to health concerns, some veterans huffed that they needed it to play.

Those are serious drug issues. Those are ones that should be publicly 
debated, privately educated on, and perhaps dealt with in collective 
bargaining. Not pot. Not in 2016.

Newsflash: A lot of NFL players smoke pot. A lot of NBA players, too. 
And college kids? Five Notre Dame players were arrested Friday night 
for possession of marijuana. This is different, being in public with 
the drug and breaking the law. (Three of them were also charged with 
possession of a handgun without a license.)

It's different, too, if someone is dealing marijuana, impaired by it 
or has a life consumed by it. But Williams never was that way in his 
playing days. He told HBO recently the pot suspensions kept him from 
the Hall of Fame (Dave Wannstedt running him so much wouldn't have 
helped, either.) Tunsil, now a starting Dolphins guard, doesn't 
appear that way now.

Tunsil was scarred by the national outcry that was more like "gotcha" 
laughter. Some states have legalized pot. Some former pros, like 
Eugene Monroe and Jake Plummer, say pot helps with football's trauma.

There's a place for help, education and suspensions in pro sports for 
drug use. But the drug isn't marijuana. Put away the sample cups at 
the drug combine. Stop testing for it with more serious drugs.

Ricky was right. Can we admit that now?
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom