Thread: NFL concerned by marijuana 'epidemic' in draft

NodakPaul wrote:

C Mac D wrote:

NodakPaul wrote:

C Mac D wrote:

According to one veteran club personnel man, 10 or 11 players who carry first-round draft grades on their board this year have been red-flagged for marijuana use in college, an estimate echoed by two clubs' head coaches. Another NFL head coach estimated that "one-third' of the players on his club's draft board had some sort of history with marijuana use and would thus require an extra level of evaluation as part of the pre-draft scouting process.

I wonder how many of those scouts went home and had some alcohol later.

I wonder which is more dangerous, pot or alcohol.

I wonder which is linked to more deaths.

I wonder...

Base rate fallacy

While I don't disagree with you about the limited dangers of pot, trying to claim that alcohol is more dangerous simply because it has been linked to more deaths than pot is a faulty comparision. Alcohol has a significantly higher usage rate, and so would naturally be linked to more deaths. It doesn't necessarily mean it is more dangerous. The common cold kills more people each year than AIDS does, but if given the choice I would take the cold any day.

You think alcohol is more commonly used, but I also think you don't realize how many people smoke pot. Thousands, upon thousands of college students (also millions of adults) smoke weed across the country. To simply say, "The usage of alcohol is greater" ignores the debilitating effects of drinking and is simply not looking at the facts.

In any case, here are the numbers... people can decide for themselves.

2008
Total Road Deaths: 37,261
Drunk Driving Deaths: 13,846
Percentage: 37%
General Marijuana Causes of Death last year: 0

http://www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/?q=node/30
http://www.alcoholalert.com/drunk-driving-statistics.html
http://www.madd.org/about-us/about-us/statistics.aspx

You may also find this interesting, Nodak:

http://www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/node/53

3.) The DEA's Administrative Law Judge, Francis Young concluded: "In strict medical terms marijuana is far safer than many foods we commonly consume. For example, eating 10 raw potatoes can result in a toxic response. By comparison, it is physically impossible to eat enough marijuana to induce death. Marijuana in its natural form is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man. By any measure of rational analysis marijuana can be safely used within the supervised routine of medical care.:

Source:
US Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Administration, "In the Matter of Marijuana Rescheduling Petition," [Docket #86-22], (September 6, 1988), p. 57.
http://www.iowamedicalmarijuana.org/pdfs/young.pdf

In conclusion, don't question me about marijuana... but here's some more info for ya... with cited sources, again.

http://www.drugpolicy.org/marijuana/factsmyths/#accidents

Myth: Marijuana Use is a Major Cause Of Highway Accidents. Like alcohol, marijuana impairs psychomotor function and decreases driving ability. If marijuana use increases, an increase in of traffic fatalities is inevitable.

Fact: There is no compelling evidence that marijuana contributes substantially to traffic accidents and fatalities. At some doses, marijuana affects perception and psychomotor performances- changes which could impair driving ability. However, in driving studies, marijuana produces little or no car-handling impairment- consistently less than produced by low moderate doses of alcohol and many legal medications. In contrast to alcohol, which tends to increase risky driving practices, marijuana tends to make subjects more cautious. Surveys of fatally injured drivers show that when THC is detected in the blood, alcohol is almost always detected as well. For some individuals, marijuana may play a role in bad driving. The overall rate of highway accidents appears not to be significantly affected by marijuana's widespread use in society.

*Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse. “Legalization: Panacea or Pandora’s Box”. New York. (1995):36.

*Swan, Neil. “A Look at Marijuana’s Harmful Effects.” NIDA Notes. 9.2 (1994): 14.

*Moskowitz, Herbert and Robert Petersen. Marijuana and Driving: A Review. Rockville: American Council for Drug Education, 1982. 7.

*Mann, Peggy. Marijuana Alert. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1985. 265.

Again, I don't disagree about the limited dangers of pot. I just disagree with the blanket statement that alcohol is more dangerous because it is linked to more deaths. While the study you cited was solid (and informative), it only dispells the fact that pot is a factor in traffic accidents -something that I didn't believe in the first place. Pot is unregulated, and that in itself makes it more dangerous than most of the regulated drugs, including alcohol. There are also very few studies on the long term effects of smoking pot, and the ones that exist rely on self reporting for usage rates at best.

I'd have to agree with C Mac on that particular issue.

IMO alcohol is far worse for you, and far more dangerous for others to be around you.

Nodak has a good point, that since weed isn't regulated, they don't check for 'high' drivers. If a guy was high and kills someone while driving, they don't have a stat for that. However, I'd be willing to bet its a hell of alot lower than drunk drivers.

Whens the last time you've heard of a man going home and beating his wife in a 'high' rage rather than a drunken rage?
Whens the last time you've heard of someone getting marijuana poisoning as opposed to alcohol poisoning?
Whens the last time you've heard of someone getting in a bar fight and killing someone with a doobie as opposed to a bottle?

Flidais wrote:

Formo wrote:

What does the legalization of weed have anything to do with the league's policies on it's use?

It could be perfectly legal, but if the NFL still has it as a banned substance.. Guess what? You still gonna get slapped.

But, all that's a moot point.. Weed's still illegal. Unless you have a doctors note and live in a state that has the medical usage of pot legalized, you light up at your own risk.

And I don't/won't feel a bit sorry for ya, either.

So to paraphrase, if your doctor feels medical marijuana is your best option for dealing with your health issue...

Tough shit.

If your potential employer (in this case, the NFL) still has it as a banned substance.. Simply put.. Yes.

C Mac D wrote:

i_bleed_purple wrote:

C Mac D wrote:

According to one veteran club personnel man, 10 or 11 players who carry first-round draft grades on their board this year have been red-flagged for marijuana use in college, an estimate echoed by two clubs' head coaches. Another NFL head coach estimated that "one-third' of the players on his club's draft board had some sort of history with marijuana use and would thus require an extra level of evaluation as part of the pre-draft scouting process.

I wonder how many of those scouts went home and had some alcohol later.

I wonder which is more dangerous, pot or alcohol.

I wonder which is linked to more deaths.

I wonder...

Which is worse for you and more dangerous has nothing to do with it. The fact is, Alcohol is legal, Marijuana is not. There are league policies in effect against marijuana use, not so strict about alcohol. I'm sure once/if Marijuana gets legalized, this won't be an issue, but until then, its treated as such. Their problem isn't that they're worried about the players health and safety, they're worried that they might slip up and miss a season. They're taking a risk when drafting a player with a history of drugs. Whether bad for you or not is up for debate, and not for this thread. Fact remains: ITS ILLEGAL.

lol... that's fine, the original argument was that the NFL should be concerned about more important things. The fact that it's illegal is a joke. I've seen cops catch people with a bag of weed and just "confiscate" it away and let them go.

Sometimes, as humans, we have to look at a law and the people that passed it and then think for ourselves whether you will follow that law or not. This is a "Free" country, right? Well, I chose not to care what some piece of paper 500 miles away says about marijuana.

So if you had a job that tested for marijuana, you would say this is a free country and do it anyway? I don't care what you do for recreational use. I've smoked it too. I don't care, I'm not debating whether it SHOULD be illegal. The fact is that it is illegal. We can't change that. Until it becomes legalized, there will always be this issue. If your job demanded you not smoke pot, and you could potentially get paid millions of dollars for your job, I"d expect you to not smoke pot anymore. As simple as that.

Hopefully a top prospect falls to us because of this "epidemic".

While it should be a concern for any team I think it is less of a concern than a guy with a history of injuries or violence, or alcohol abuse.

If possible contracts should be written to where they can be voided or reduced if a positive test causes a league suspension.

I don't see the league changing it's policy any time soon. Atleast until there is national legalization for recreational use.

i_bleed_purple wrote:

C Mac D wrote:

i_bleed_purple wrote:

C Mac D wrote:

According to one veteran club personnel man, 10 or 11 players who carry first-round draft grades on their board this year have been red-flagged for marijuana use in college, an estimate echoed by two clubs' head coaches. Another NFL head coach estimated that "one-third' of the players on his club's draft board had some sort of history with marijuana use and would thus require an extra level of evaluation as part of the pre-draft scouting process.

I wonder how many of those scouts went home and had some alcohol later.

I wonder which is more dangerous, pot or alcohol.

I wonder which is linked to more deaths.

I wonder...

Which is worse for you and more dangerous has nothing to do with it. The fact is, Alcohol is legal, Marijuana is not. There are league policies in effect against marijuana use, not so strict about alcohol. I'm sure once/if Marijuana gets legalized, this won't be an issue, but until then, its treated as such. Their problem isn't that they're worried about the players health and safety, they're worried that they might slip up and miss a season. They're taking a risk when drafting a player with a history of drugs. Whether bad for you or not is up for debate, and not for this thread. Fact remains: ITS ILLEGAL.

lol... that's fine, the original argument was that the NFL should be concerned about more important things. The fact that it's illegal is a joke. I've seen cops catch people with a bag of weed and just "confiscate" it away and let them go.

Sometimes, as humans, we have to look at a law and the people that passed it and then think for ourselves whether you will follow that law or not. This is a "Free" country, right? Well, I chose not to care what some piece of paper 500 miles away says about marijuana.

So if you had a job that tested for marijuana, you would say this is a free country and do it anyway? I don't care what you do for recreational use. I've smoked it too. I don't care, I'm not debating whether it SHOULD be illegal. The fact is that it is illegal. We can't change that. Until it becomes legalized, there will always be this issue. If your job demanded you not smoke pot, and you could potentially get paid millions of dollars for your job, I"d expect you to not smoke pot anymore. As simple as that.

lol.. and I've done just that, and passed the drug test too. You have to be smart about it... imagine that.

C Mac D wrote:

Mr Anderson wrote:

C Mac D wrote:

ndnorseman wrote:

I'm guessing the League bans a certain substance for 2 reasons:

1) It's illegal

2) It's a "performance enhancer"

Marijuana IS illegal (for the most part, putting aside the medical exceptions...and that's just in select states).

Marijuana is NOT, and I repeat, NOT! a performance enhancer. LOL


Legalize it across the board, and marijuana becomes even less of a problem than alcohol.

JMO

It's illegal based on archaic laws from the time of slavery to limit hemp production to increase cotton's value.

So, whatever. Listen to laws that were passed during slavery... which was legal. (<-- This sentence should tell you the sort of people writing those laws...)

I always heard that it was 1937. Something with the timber and paper industries, Dupont, and Mellon bank. Mellon bank's chairman was also secretary of the treasury, and got hemp banned.

Good thing corporations can fund elections now. (sorry, I know the rules, but I couldn't resist)

You're right, I stand corrected. In fact, George Washington apparently touted the benefits of Marijuana and urged the growing/usage of it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_history_of_cannabis_in_the_United_States

And he probably had some slaves cut it up for him, too.

C Mac D wrote:

i_bleed_purple wrote:

C Mac D wrote:

i_bleed_purple wrote:

C Mac D wrote:

According to one veteran club personnel man, 10 or 11 players who carry first-round draft grades on their board this year have been red-flagged for marijuana use in college, an estimate echoed by two clubs' head coaches. Another NFL head coach estimated that "one-third' of the players on his club's draft board had some sort of history with marijuana use and would thus require an extra level of evaluation as part of the pre-draft scouting process.

I wonder how many of those scouts went home and had some alcohol later.

I wonder which is more dangerous, pot or alcohol.

I wonder which is linked to more deaths.

I wonder...

Which is worse for you and more dangerous has nothing to do with it. The fact is, Alcohol is legal, Marijuana is not. There are league policies in effect against marijuana use, not so strict about alcohol. I'm sure once/if Marijuana gets legalized, this won't be an issue, but until then, its treated as such. Their problem isn't that they're worried about the players health and safety, they're worried that they might slip up and miss a season. They're taking a risk when drafting a player with a history of drugs. Whether bad for you or not is up for debate, and not for this thread. Fact remains: ITS ILLEGAL.

lol... that's fine, the original argument was that the NFL should be concerned about more important things. The fact that it's illegal is a joke. I've seen cops catch people with a bag of weed and just "confiscate" it away and let them go.

Sometimes, as humans, we have to look at a law and the people that passed it and then think for ourselves whether you will follow that law or not. This is a "Free" country, right? Well, I chose not to care what some piece of paper 500 miles away says about marijuana.

So if you had a job that tested for marijuana, you would say this is a free country and do it anyway? I don't care what you do for recreational use. I've smoked it too. I don't care, I'm not debating whether it SHOULD be illegal. The fact is that it is illegal. We can't change that. Until it becomes legalized, there will always be this issue. If your job demanded you not smoke pot, and you could potentially get paid millions of dollars for your job, I"d expect you to not smoke pot anymore. As simple as that.

lol.. and I've done just that, and passed the drug test too. You have to be smart about it... imagine that.

Except, the issue with the NFL, is alot of players aren't. Even Harvin wasn't 'Smart about it', he got busted at the combine.

Plus I'm willing to bet you don't make as much as NFL players do. If you got caught and fired (I bet you'd get a second chance, no?) its not the end of your career.

If an NFL player gets suspended, especially a younger one who's not as well known, that could be the end of his career. Then what? He's gotta go back to school if he didn't graduate and find something new. I don't think I'd take that risk.

C Mac D wrote:

Maybe you missed the part that said there is no level of marijuana that can be consumed that would cause an overdose? You can easily die of alcohol poisoning.

You are only reading what you want to accept.

Just to take a moment and point out that what you posted does NOT say "consumed", it says "eat".

=Z=

Zeus wrote:

C Mac D wrote:

Maybe you missed the part that said there is no level of marijuana that can be consumed that would cause an overdose? You can easily die of alcohol poisoning.

You are only reading what you want to accept.

Just to take a moment and point out that what you posted does NOT say "consumed", it says "eat".

=Z=

lol... well, the simple fact that there has never... I repeat... NEVER been a death linked with a marijuana overdose, I think consumed/eat are interchangeable here.

Formo wrote:

Flidais wrote:

Formo wrote:

What does the legalization of weed have anything to do with the league's policies on it's use?

It could be perfectly legal, but if the NFL still has it as a banned substance.. Guess what? You still gonna get slapped.

But, all that's a moot point.. Weed's still illegal. Unless you have a doctors note and live in a state that has the medical usage of pot legalized, you light up at your own risk.

And I don't/won't feel a bit sorry for ya, either.

So to paraphrase, if your doctor feels medical marijuana is your best option for dealing with your health issue...

Tough shit.

If your potential employer (in this case, the NFL) still has it as a banned substance.. Simply put.. Yes.

+1, The employer makes the rules. You either follow them or suffer the consequenses.
Doctors occassionally recommend steroids to people for asthma, In the nfl that will cause a suspension.