NFL’s Policy on Cannabis

[Mark80]

Rank and file police, I'm sure that's true. But chiefs and those that manage the budget would lose a major scare tactic for boosting their annual revenue. Why is it that most police departments oppose recreational pot?

 

My connections to police are chiefs and those that manage the budget and I can tell you for a fact that this is not true, for the most part. It's not like a police department is a company trying to grow their revenues year in and year out. They are a public service provide to and paid for by the people. Their main concern is keeping people safe, not how to maximize their budgets. If they could put resources to things that actually matter and are of real safety concerns instead of MJ, they would gladly do it. Most departments oppose recreational pot because it is illegal (state most of the time and fed all the time) and it is their duty to uphold the law. Also, they oppose it because of driving under the influence reasons and the safety concerns of that.

 

I agree with your point about the legit reasons some players risk it

 

I know it's fashionable to blame "big pharma" for many things, but I think it's probably misplaced in this case. Look a bit deeper into the history of criminalizing marijuana and prosecuting marijuana cases though.

 

Not saying that pharma's are responsible for making it illegal or how it's prosecuted (especially minimum sentencing rules), I'm saying they are one of the main reasons, if not the only reason, that it remains illegal.

Edited August 17, 2016 by Mark80

[Saxum]

 

 

That's retired NFL players, bruh. The topic being discussed in this thread is current players using weed for pain control versus being "hooked on pills" for pain control.

 

Keep trying, you can't fall in the same hole every time, right?

 

 

 

 

I don't think Marcel was using this as a pain killer... Lagarette Blount maybe.

 

Exactly Marcell 'Old Spice' Dareus was using it because he used it before. Many are using as relief from pain when most players just used it as a recreational drug, questionable legal or not legal in the state they were using or not.

 

A point. A good point.

 

I take your valid point about needing to follow the rules the league has established

 

The difference between banning bananas, waffles, and milk and banning is that they don't offer the pain relief that marijuana does, which is why at least some of the players risk it. And it's really not much of a risk UNTIL the guys are in the drug program being tested 10x a month.

 

Most players are NOT using it for pain relief.

[apuszczalowski]

Dig deep to the root of this issue.... and It's all about POWER.

 

Please tell me how much revenue is lost by any NFL player smoking weed??? The answer is $0 lost because people will still watch and ratings will not suffer an ounce. So why does the league care? Because they can. Because they have a rule in place and it is an added chip they can hold on to during collective bargaining dealings.

 

The right thing to do would be to remove weed from the NFL's banned substance list TODAY....

 

The money-making thing to do is remove it from the NFL's banned substance list in exchange for something else during collective bargaining. However this won't happen because if only 10% of players in the NFL smoke weed, they're not going to agree that this is a priority to give up something else.

replace weed with steroids or even domestic violence, or animal abuse in what you write and you get the same result. Did the NFL lose any money and viewers because of rice/hardy, or Vick? Not enough to hurt the bottom line, so hey, why punish them too? Just because pot smokers aren't smart enough to lay off it until their short careers are over it should just be made legal. Medicinal purpose is a handy excuse for them to explain getting caught, I can almost guarantee 90% couldn't show you any kind of credible prescription for it

[machine gun kelly]

Good arguments. The Pharma company argument is a facade. They are not spending time on this issue. Unless it is a long acting designer medicine, opioids are all generic and cheap. Hydrocodone, Oxycodone, Darvocet, and so on are all old meds filled primarily by generic companies for nothing. There's no lobby from generic companies like Teva are spending a dime to keep marijuana illegal.

 

I personally could care less of these guys smoke weed. I do think they are idiots who as an example Dareus just lost $3.5 mil for smoking dope. He won't make this kind hey forever. I would never put myself at risk for losing a dime because of off field issues. Besides, he basically n ends to be clean for about 35 days prior to the first test so basically stay clean for a couple of months.

 

It's his own fault. I've read so many posts marijuana is not a gateway drug, is not addictive and thus can stop. Well, stupid, stop for two months out of the year.

 

I have little compassion and patience for these idiotic decisions by the players.

[Saxum]

Good arguments. The Pharma company argument is a facade. They are not spending time on this issue. Unless it is a long acting designer medicine, opioids are all generic and cheap. Hydrocodone, Oxycodone, Darvocet, and so on are all old meds filled primarily by generic companies for nothing. There's no lobby from generic companies like Teva are spending a dime to keep marijuana illegal.

 

I personally could care less of these guys smoke weed. I do think they are idiots who as an example Dareus just lost $3.5 mil for smoking dope. He won't make this kind hey forever. I would never put myself at risk for losing a dime because of off field issues. Besides, he basically n ends to be clean for about 35 days prior to the first test so basically stay clean for a couple of months.

 

It's his own fault. I've read so many posts marijuana is not a gateway drug, is not addictive and thus can stop. Well, stupid, stop for two months out of the year.

 

I have little compassion and patience for these idiotic decisions by the players.

 

 

Well Bills could do what P*ts did with Br*dy if they did not want Marcel to suffer financially - restructure his contract having him being paid veteran minimum this year reducing cost to him.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

 

My connections to police are chiefs and those that manage the budget and I can tell you for a fact that this is not true, for the most part. It's not like a police department is a company trying to grow their revenues year in and year out. They are a public service provide to and paid for by the people. Their main concern is keeping people safe, not how to maximize their budgets. If they could put resources to things that actually matter and are of real safety concerns instead of MJ, they would gladly do it. Most departments oppose recreational pot because it is illegal (state most of the time and fed all the time) and it is their duty to uphold the law. Also, they oppose it because of driving under the influence reasons and the safety concerns of that.

 

Not saying that pharma's are responsible for making it illegal or how it's prosecuted (especially minimum sentencing rules), I'm saying they are one of the main reasons, if not the only reason, that it remains illegal.

 

It probably doesn't belong here, so I'll just say that I disagree, on both points.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

Good arguments. The Pharma company argument is a facade. They are not spending time on this issue. Unless it is a long acting designer medicine, opioids are all generic and cheap. Hydrocodone, Oxycodone, Darvocet, and so on are all old meds filled primarily by generic companies for nothing. There's no lobby from generic companies like Teva are spending a dime to keep marijuana illegal.

 

I personally could care less of these guys smoke weed. I do think they are idiots who as an example Dareus just lost $3.5 mil for smoking dope. He won't make this kind hey forever. I would never put myself at risk for losing a dime because of off field issues. Besides, he basically n ends to be clean for about 35 days prior to the first test so basically stay clean for a couple of months.

 

It's his own fault. I've read so many posts marijuana is not a gateway drug, is not addictive and thus can stop. Well, stupid, stop for two months out of the year.

 

I have little compassion and patience for these idiotic decisions by the players.

 

On Pharma: exactly correct.

 

On Dareus: I agree he's an idiot and it's his fault, but it's my understanding he was in the substance abuse program due to his arrest on spice/drug paraphenalia which I believe means testing every 10 days. I'm not clear on if it's year round or only during preseason and season, but in any case it's not just a couple months.

[Protocal69]

The thing I don't understand about the weed thing is that if it wasn't for the NFL suspending players for weed, how would the fans, unless they knew the player personally know that the player uses weed.

 

Seems like a invasion of privacy for something that is not performance enhancing. Unneeded black eye on the league and a waste of owners money, These players lose enough games due to injury let alone stupid infractions. Domestic violence, DWI, basically anything that breaks the law that could require jail time for a normal person then suspend the crap out of them. Anything other than that fine it or dont enforce it at all

[machine gun kelly]

Protocal- good point and they are in a conundrum. Change the policy and a black eye. Don't change the policy and keep having these knuckleheads getting suspended.

 

The last time I was around weed was about 30 years ago so think I'm safe in stating this publicly, but I could care less if they do it as long as they don't drive and hurt someone. I think secretly the NFL wishes there was a way for this to go away. None of th owners want their best players getting suspended.

[Nervous Guy]

Good arguments. The Pharma company argument is a facade. They are not spending time on this issue. Unless it is a long acting designer medicine, opioids are all generic and cheap. Hydrocodone, Oxycodone, Darvocet, and so on are all old meds filled primarily by generic companies for nothing. There's no lobby from generic companies like Teva are spending a dime to keep marijuana illegal.

 

 

 

Totally wrong...I've worked on some of these projects.

[The Wiz]

Protocal- good point and they are in a conundrum. Change the policy and a black eye. Don't change the policy and keep having these knuckleheads getting suspended.

 

The last time I was around weed was about 30 years ago so think I'm safe in stating this publicly, but I could care less if they do it as long as they don't drive and hurt someone. I think secretly the NFL wishes there was a way for this to go away. None of th owners want their best players getting suspended.

I think that's the reason the nfl enforced substance abuse the way it does. They want the problem to go away but they know it won't ask they make it hurt them where it hurts the most, their wallet. I said it earlier, until the nfl can make money off of players using weed they will continue to ban it.

[Nanker]

it makes you eat hot dogs on the sideline during a game. Not a good look i heard.

[Nervous Guy]

Good arguments. The Pharma company argument is a facade. They are not spending time on this issue. Unless it is a long acting designer medicine, opioids are all generic and cheap. Hydrocodone, Oxycodone, Darvocet, and so on are all old meds filled primarily by generic companies for nothing. There's no lobby from generic companies like Teva are spending a dime to keep marijuana illegal.

 

 

not exactly all are generic....from this past Feb:

 

It's bad news for Purdue Pharma but good news for generics makers such as Teva Pharmaceutical Industries ($TEVA). A federal appeals court affirmed a lower court's decision to toss out some Purdue patents for its top-selling pain drug OxyContin, further opening the door to cheap knockoff versions of the blockbuster med....the company "has several other patents protecting OxyContin" so Purdue "does not anticipate generic manufacturers selling generic versions of their products in the near future," Strassburger said.

http://www.fiercepharma.com/sales-and-marketing/purdue-loses-a-battle-war-against-oxycontin-generics

 

also this is an interesting read to refute your claims....there's quite a large lobby to block legalization of marijuana for even medicinal uses...ironically it's the pharmaceutical companies.

 

https://www.thenation.com/article/anti-pot-lobbys-big-bankroll/

[Pete]

Partnership for a Drug Free America Sources of Funding from 1988-91

Extracted from Federal Tax Returns

(figures are approximate)

PROVIDED BY Washington Hemp Education Network

Pharmaceutical FirmsJ. Seward Johnson, Sr. Charitable Trusts   --- $1.1 millionDu Pont                                    ---    125,000Proctor and Gamble Fund                    ---    120,000Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation            ---    115,000Johnson & Johnson                          ---    100,000Merck Foundation                           ---     85,000Hoffman-LaRoche                            ---     75,000Tobacco and Liquor FirmsPhillip Morris                             ---    125,000Anheuser-Busch                             ---    100,000RJ Reynolds                                ---    100,000American Brands                            ---    100,000

[Saxum]

This is your brain on pot: Neuroscientist studies long-term effects of medical marijuana

https://www.statnews.com/2016/08/15/medical-marijuana-study-staci-gruber/

[starrymessenger]

 

Yeah well...ahhh...forgot what I was gonna say...

Seriously, the NFL is probably behind the times on this issue as far as national sentiment is concerned, but in fairness you maybe cant expect the league to be socially progressive either. Having said that their practice and policy for player discipline with respect to weed is way too punitive. Guys like Marcell and Josh Gordon are dumbasses to be sure, but taking them off the field is not the answer IMO.

Thats ultimately a bad result for all concerned, including the NFL.

[PromoTheRobot]

 

My connections to police are chiefs and those that manage the budget and I can tell you for a fact that this is not true, for the most part. It's not like a police department is a company trying to grow their revenues year in and year out. They are a public service provide to and paid for by the people. Their main concern is keeping people safe, not how to maximize their budgets. If they could put resources to things that actually matter and are of real safety concerns instead of MJ, they would gladly do it. Most departments oppose recreational pot because it is illegal (state most of the time and fed all the time) and it is their duty to uphold the law. Also, they oppose it because of driving under the influence reasons and the safety concerns of that.

 

Not saying that pharma's are responsible for making it illegal or how it's prosecuted (especially minimum sentencing rules), I'm saying they are one of the main reasons, if not the only reason, that it remains illegal.

So they oppose legalization because it's illegal? Kind of a circular argument, isn't it? As for DUI, it's not like people don't drive high now. How do police departments deal with it? That wouldn't change with legal weed. I seriously doubt there would be a sudden increase in pot smoking if it were legal. All you are doing is bringing that black market into the light.

[Pete]

No Justin Blackman or Martavias Bryant this season. Leveon Bell and Marcell will miss a chunk of time. No Josh Gordon the past two seasons. The NFL's draconian weed policy is biting off it's nose to spite it's face

[jr1]

Every job has rules. Obey them or get fined/fired. No sympathy

[Mr. WEO]

The thing I don't understand about the weed thing is that if it wasn't for the NFL suspending players for weed, how would the fans, unless they knew the player personally know that the player uses weed.

 

 

 

 

Partnership for a Drug Free America Sources of Funding from 1988-91

Extracted from Federal Tax Returns

(figures are approximate)

PROVIDED BY Washington Hemp Education Network

Pharmaceutical FirmsJ. Seward Johnson, Sr. Charitable Trusts   --- $1.1 millionDu Pont                                    ---    125,000Proctor and Gamble Fund                    ---    120,000Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation            ---    115,000Johnson & Johnson                          ---    100,000Merck Foundation                           ---     85,000Hoffman-LaRoche                            ---     75,000Tobacco and Liquor FirmsPhillip Morris                             ---    125,000Anheuser-Busch                             ---    100,000RJ Reynolds                                ---    100,000American Brands                            ---    100,000

 

Wow! "Big Pharma" is really the shadowy presence behind a drug free America!--look at those sums! 75k! 100K!

 

By the way, Merck 36 billion annual revenues, J&J 32 billion, Roche 39 billion.