Marijuana

With Colorado (Broncos) and Washington (Seahawks) legalizing marijuana, and many more states legalizing it's use in medical applications such as pain mediation, the NFL is inching towards allowing players who play in states where it's non-illegal to use it.

With an estimated 50% of NFL players indulging, what impact might it have on Free Agents when deciding where to sign?

It's been posted on TGG that having a great 'player friendly coach' like Rex goes a long way in tipping the scales, I'm curious how being able to indulge without repercussions might tip the scales in favor of teams playing in weed friendly states.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...arper-arrested-for-suspicion-of-rape/related/

NFL could indeed change its mind about marijuana, in time
Posted by Mike Florio on January 18, 2014, 1:47 PM EST
Marijuana



On Sunday, the conference championship games will be played in each of the two states where it’s now legal to smoke marijuana for recreational purposes. And while the NFL remains steadfastly opposed to players smoking for any purpose, the league’s position eventually could be mellowing.

In an extensive look at marijuana use in the NFL, Andrea Kremer of HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel asks senior V.P. of labor law and policy Adolpho Birch whether a player who believes marijuana helps him with pain management and recovery should smoke it.

“He should not use marijuana,” Birch tells Kremer in an advance copy of the broadcast, which debuts on Tuesday, January 21, at 10:00 p.m. ET. “[H]e should consult his team physician or primary physician. If pain management is an issue for him, they can provide him with assistance in that respect.”

But what about the players who don’t want to use prescription medication, given the potential for addiction and side effects?

“I wouldn’t know . . . how to respond to them other than to say that the NFL and the NFL Players Association have made a determination that marijuana is not a substance for which the exemptions for that type of use would be permitted,” Birch says.

Plenty of players don’t care. Former Broncos tight end Nate Jackson, who smoked marijuana while playing for pain-management purposes, estimates that “maybe half” of the league’s players use marijuana. (Former NFL tackle Lomas Brown previously has pegged marijuana use by the league’s players at 50 percent.)

“For me personally, very viable,” Jackson tells Kremer regarding the benefits of marijuana. “I prefer it. Marijuana was something that helped me, as the season wore on, my body would start to break down. I was in a lot of pain.”

It’s possible that marijuana can heal not only bodies but also brains. Research conducted by Dr. Raphael Machoulam, described as the world’s leading expert on marijuana, has discovered the healing of brain tissue in mice given a marijuana compound. Dr. Machoulam believes those benefits could translate to humans, too.

If that can be proven, the NFL could change its tune.

“I think we can engage in a lot of what if’s,” Birch said. “That certainly is an intriguing one to hear. Clearly, there is not something that is able to be put before us today to make it a decision that needs to be reviewed today. . . . We’ll look at anything that we think is helpful to players, consistent with our values, and able to be worked on within the context of our policy, certainly.”

But the policy hasn’t been engraved on stone tablets by the hand of God. The policy can be changed. And as more states where NFL teams play legalize marijuana, the league’s policy looks outdated — especially since it only prohibits the “illegal use” of marijuana.

Initially, the NFL shrugged at marijuana becoming legal in Colorado and Washington because it remained a controlled substance (and thus illegal) under federal law. But as the substance gains more acceptance by the various states of the Union and in mainstream society, and as the potential benefits of the substance become better understood, the NFL’s ongoing desire to regulate player behavior away from the field that has no impact on performance eventually will look foolish.

If it doesn’t already.

 

haha now I gotta go read this!

 

There ya go, got your wish. With so many new topics on TGG to discuss now a day it's better this way.

 

Denver, Seattle rooting for Marijuana Bowl?

If all goes as oddsmakers have predicted, the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks will win the conference championship games on Sunday and gear up for what will be a Super Bowl for the ages.

Not because of the talents that will be going head to head, but the first ever Marijuana Bowl?



These two teams represent the major cities in Colorado and Washington, the only states that have legalized recreational marijuana. Allen St. Pierre, the executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said that if this ends up being the matchup for the Super Bowl, it will be featuring "the two most pro-cannabis-legalization cities in the US." He joked that the game should be renamed "The Super Oobie Doobie Bowl."

The legalization hasn't been a free-for-all among everyone though.

When Jan. 1 came around and Colorado opened its pot shops, it was legal to buy and use the drug on the state level. However, it is still illegal for NFL players who live in the state to use marijuana because it violates the drug policy under the current collective bargaining agreement. The same will go for Washington when their pot doors open this spring.

The NFL is getting pressured by lobbyists to stop penalizing players for smoking pot, saying it could be helpful for getting through concussions and other injuries.

The lobbyists are also calling attention to the fact the league is fond of the alcohol industry, such as their relationship with Anheuser-Busch. They pitch Bud Light as the "proud sponsor of the NFL" and even had some ads in rotation showing Budweiser and Bud Light bottles going head-to-head in what they called a "Bud Bowl" game.

Mason Tvert, spokesperson for the pro legalization Marijuana Policy Project in Denver thinks there are more important topics to be discussed instead of getting drowned out in all the beer ads. "Hopefully there will be a break in the beer commercials for some discussion about marijuana laws," he said.

A 48-foot-wide billboard was put up in September by the organization next to Denver's Sports Authority Field at Mile High, insisting that the NFL needs to "stop driving players to drink" and the "safer choice" for athletes was actually pot. A petition was launched by the group in efforts to get NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to change the league's marijuana policy.



A pro-marijuana billboard is seen near the Denver Broncos stadium in Denver on September 5, 2013.

Steve Fox, who works for a marijuana-industry law firm in Denver, wonders since the National Hockey League only tests for performing-enhancing drugs, why can't the NFL do the same? He could have a point since marijuana is not a drug that gives any player a physical edge.

"It won't be long before it's unique to have two teams in the Super Bowl that haven't made marijuana legal," Tvert said.

For the states where marijuana is outlawed completely, they've actually had a difficult time in the postseason. The Carolina Panthers, Indianapolis Colts, Kansas City Chiefs, Green Bay Packers, Philadelphia Eagles, New Orleans Saints and Cincinnati Bengals all come from states that have not decriminalized pot. Go figure.

"If you noticed, the more marijuana-friendly localities really kicked butt," Fox said. "I don't know what it really means in the grand scheme of things, but it's a nice bit of karma if nothing else."

Pot legalization in a state making teams more successful? Let's not get ahead of ourselves.