I'd agree with this except for the fact that the anti-weed-put-em-all-in-jail hard-on the NFL has is the same hard-on they have for people who kneel during the anthem: it's all part of the right-wing hypocrisy that maw & paw American whitey have while their hero President Bonespurs Einstein gets away with shitting on the flag, vets , people of color, and women. Ron
Does anyone remember when Shaun Ellis was busted in early December of the 2008 season? Weed possession, speeding, and no proof of insurance. When the Jets played the Bills at home in The Old Dump a week or so later, someone Photoshopped a bong in his hand in place of a football when he crossed the goal line vs. the Bills to seal the game. I laughed so hard, I almost threw up. Ellis got a $100K fine and was suspended one game for the start of the 2009 regular season.
The just are like a combination of drugs, get you amped up like coke and drop you flat on your face like heroin. Can't be beat!!! Thank God they don't show up on piss test....
Thanks, Tony, but unfortunately, it will. We're supposed to get at least 10 inches, and I've seen one prediction that it could be as much as 18 inches. Then sleet or freezing rain on top of that! The Weather Channel has broadcast from both Winston-Salem (where I live) and Greensboro a city near here to the east. Went to the store yesterday and stocked up on food. As long as the power doesn't go out, I should be fine.
Let me clarify. For taking the edge off it's a lot safer than Alcohol. My point is it's none toxic, it's being legalized globally. It's safer than any pain killer and safer than booze to take the edge off. Nobody is testing these guys for drinking unless it's the cops on the highway. I don't smoke pot but I think at this point the NFL should deal with reality. As far as the "Rules" that works both ways. Employers all over the USA can't find employees. Those that are drug testing are now overlooking people who test positive for all kinds of things. Testing players for Pot smoking today is a complete invasion of people's privacy. It's bad for the employer and the employee. As idiotic as a player is to get caught, it's moronic for the NFL to be testing for it. Players should be encouraged to smoke pot rather than take the prescribed pain meds the teams doctors routinely prescribe for them and they would be far better off smoking a little weed to take the edge off than going out drinking. The NFL is as much as a dumbass as the player who gets caught. All those people who drank during prohibition were dumbasses until the Constitution was changed. If you suspended people during prohibition you wouldn't have had a workplace.
Ricky Williams turned out to be right. He managed his pain without toxic drugs. So yes I remember it. Did you know we have a drug and alcoholic problem of epic proportions in the USA? People are killing themselves at record rates. People like to take the edge off and control their pain whatever it is. We have a Constitutional amendment that allows players to drink themselves to a ruined life. The NFL should stop being dumb asses. You should read the court filings against the league in regards to the amount of drugs they are giving to the players in violation of both the law and any ethical standard of conduct. https://www.washingtonpost.com/spor...22680e18d10_story.html?utm_term=.4863586cef47
I'm not disputing that Ricky Williams smoked for pain relief and I have no doubt that it worked, but he also smoked in extreme excess just because he liked to get high, and that's primarily why he left the NFL. I told you this is a very complicated subject, but I'm a little confused why you're intimating that I'm taking some kind of moral high-ground. I take no moral high-ground on people who smoke just to get fckd up, but if you were to say - which you didn't - that there aren't any such people in huge numbers I would have to counter that's disingenuous. I wouldn't even call pot worship a subculture, it's a culture. Of course pot is less damaging than everything else if at all, but I would not want someone who operated heavy machinery for instance who was a habitual heavy user anywhere near my shop no matter how high functioning they were (high functioning, heh, Word Play). Anyway, it's a legal liability because technically they're under the influence and I ain't eating a lawsuit. Just sayin'. And there are people who have to toke just a little to normalize even if they're not 'impaired' from years and years of habitual use. I'm not implying that weed is addictive, but it can become a mental crutch. I've known fellers like that. I am 1,000% for medical marijuana and there is absolutely no reason why people who suffer from every imaginable malady should be allowed to suffer when cannabis has been proven time and time again to give people relief for everything from seizures (instead of drugs that turn you into a zombie, pollute your liver, and aren't even efficacious), bone pain, glaucoma, nausea from chemotherapy, arthritis, migraines - the list goes on and on a mile long. Lee is not suffering, which is fine; but the main point (see my green pants post a page back) is that he simply did not obey a condition of his employment, stupid rule or no. And HE'S stupid for doing it because he shot himself in the foot. He also most likely had to fail a minimum of four times and he knew the test was coming so how dumb do you have to be? Not you, him. I just want to be clear that I couldn't give shits about recreational smoking. That's a personal private choice and if it's not affecting your life, your relationships, your finances, OR YOUR JOB, have at it. I'm just steering it back that this is about Darron Lee being a moron in his today, now, work environment regardless of how Draconian the rule is. EDIT: More on RX painkillers, alcohol, and anti-depressants <== the overlooked evil later. I have a lot to say.
What a bunch of pure none-sense. Underage kids are bing drinking in Colleges across this country on a weekly and sometimes daily basis. There is no liability for the NFL for a player catching a pass with residual pot in his blood stream from smoking a joint in his house 3 days before a drug test. Let me be clear. People have been taking the edge off with drugs and alcohol since practically fire was discovered. I don't condone it but we have a Constitutional amendment that allows people to to take the edge off, even get blotto drunk when they aren't operating a vehicle and are in their own home or out at a restaurant. NFL players can drink in a hotel lobby without repercussions. Did you know if people actually followed the Constitutional law banning alcohol it wouldn't have been changed. NY State threw habitual pot smokers in jail for life. You would have to be dumb as shit to smoke pot and possibly go to jail for life. People did. That doesn't mean the law wasn't really bad, uncalled for and an invasion of any concept of personal rights and basic fairness. How dumb does the NFL have to be to encourage young men to take prescription opioids to keep them on the field and improve their performance and test them for Pot for no reason other than to control the players for their own PR. Nobody who doesn't have a stick up there ass gives a shit about NFL players smoking pot.
Stay safe. As long as you have your supplies, and the power holds, take advantage of the "forced break" and recharge your own batteries. Sometimes these things can be blessings in disguise.
I understand all of that, but the reality is that people can get high, and unless tested, no one would know it for sure. OTOH, if you drink before or during work, it will be detected. And both substances impair your judgement and performance. Moreover, because it's harder to detect, people tend to abuse it, and the long term effects can be permanent or nearly so. The fact that THC remains in your system for so long should tell you that it's effects are cumulative and long lasting. Sure you can get hammered on alcohol and show up for work a few hours later, and there will be an effect on your performance, but by the next day - assuming you don't drink in the interim - that effect is mostly gone (except for habitual drinkers who also suffer long term effects). Employers can confront these employees and punish them but usually turn a blind eye to it, especially in certain jobs/industries, but that doesn't mean they should do the same with drugs - "two wrongs don't make a right". And you don't have to suspend every person who fails a drug/sobriety test, just enough to make people stop and consider the consequences if they're caught, That will significantly reduce how many people try to beat the system. I have no problem with legalizing it, or using it to treat medical conditions, including psychological ones if prescribed by a doctor, but condoning its use on the job is a big problem. And if you know a condition of your employment is to not smoke pot, then don't do it. And if you really have to struggle with abstaining, you might consider that it's a bigger problem for you than you think.
Acknowledging the hypocrisy and lack of common sense on one hand doesn't mean that there should be absolutely no repercussions for drug/alcohol abuse, or no consequences for poor performance as a result of using these substances on your "free" time. I'm allowed to get hammered legally (and living in Colorado, I could also get high legally), but if I have a job operating equipment or driving, and the residual effects of that use impair my judgment/coordination and I cause an accident or other problem, then I should suffer the consequences. Sure I've read the stories about my childhood heroes like Mantle and Ford, how they showed up to play still drunk and performed adequately. But they admit they shouldn't have done it. Dock Ellis pitched a perfect game high on LSD, but that doesn't make it right. Of course there's no way to entirely prevent people from doing this, but it's not an "all or nothing" proposition. Random drug/alcohol tests are there to make people stop and think before they do something stupid, and they work because most people don't abuse drugs/alcohol when they know they might get caught. From what I can tell, your issue is with the hypocrisy of the NFL (and some employers) who turn a blind eye towards alcohol abuse and make smoking pot a "death sentence", and I'm with you on that, but to go to the other extreme and turn a blind eye to pot abuse isn't the answer.
Thanks, Colorado! I'll definitely stay safe. It's very hilly here in Winston-Salem, and while there are no sheer drop offs as in Colorado, I don't plan to get out on the roads. There are several projects here inside at home that I've been putting off, and it will give me a good chance to get at least one of them done, and there are a couple of books I've been wanting to read, and hope to knock at least one of them out.
