After getting reinstated into the NFL and having his one-year suspension reduced to 10 games, Josh Gordon must be on a high. But his case has not been without controversy, which eventually helped reform NFL’s outdated policies on marijuana. Here’s how the story unfolded:
The Cleveland Browns’ star wide receiver was suspended by the league for one season for a failed marijuana test, which came out at 16 nanograms per milliliter, just one nanogram above the NFL’s threshold of 15 ng/ml.
But in his appeal, Gordon argued that his failed drug test was a result of second-hand smoke. A discrepancy in the test result also played a part in Gordon’s argument. His drug test consisted of two samples. The ‘A’ sample was the one that failed, while the second ‘B’ sample passed the NFL’s drug threshold, measuring at 13.63 ng/ml. Both the ‘A’ and ‘B’ samples came from the specimen, so they should have tested out to almost the same figure.
The appeal, however, was denied on August 22 by an arbitrator, and it appeared that Gordon would not be able to play until 2015.
One-two punch
The yearlong ban on Gordon was in itself a seemingly reasonable sanction. So, why were there so much anger and frustration that followed?
Former Baltimore Ravens’ running back Ray Rice’s meager two-game suspension case was, for most part, the answer.
Last month, a disturbing video capturing Rice dragging his then-fiancée Janay Palmer from inside the elevator in Atlantic City in March was released by TMZ. Her head struck a side railing as she fell to the floor. The video further shows Rice dragging an unconscious Palmer from the elevator and dropping her limp body on the floor.
That the domestic violence incident resulted in a two-game suspension for the former Raven is controversial enough to set off a new round of criticism aimed at the NFL for its light discipline of Rice. After all, how could a man caught on video assaulting his girlfriend get a two-game suspension, when a man who tested positive for a substance that is legal in two states and decriminalized elsewhere gets a full season?
Commissioner Roger Goodell then admitted he was wrong on the Rice decision. He then announced enhanced policies and discipline under the personal conduct policy, and suspended Rice indefinitely.
“Outdated” Substance-Abuse Policy
The Ray Rice scandal has shown us the NFL’s broad discipline structure, which punishes a multiple marijuana offender more severely than a first-time perpetrator of domestic violence.
Josh Gordon’s name came up in postgame conversation after the Cleveland Browns played their first game since the wide receiver’s suspension was announced.
In an interview with the Cleveland Plain-Dealer, offensive lineman Joe Thomas strongly criticized the NFL’s substance-abuse policy, saying it is “outdated” and “does not accurately reflect the morals of society today.”
Thomas added that the league and players union should look at updating the drug policy now, not in eight years when the new CBA expires.
“I think there is a resistance from management of the NFL and also from the players association to do that type of needed updating of the drug policy because obviously there is some oversights when they wrote the program and some cultural changes that have happened that I do not think the program accurately reflects the morals of society today and the NFL and pro-sports in general,” Thomas said.
While collectively bargained, and thus implicitly endorsed by players, the NFL’s position marijuana has lost some relevance. The league’s marijuana policy is extreme at a time when two states have legalized marijuana for recreational use and a total of 23 states plus the District of Columbia allow it for medicinal purposes.
What does the NFL get from punishing marijuana users? In the 1980s drug war era, its stance was politically and socially necessary. An evolution of thought has begun separating marijuana from other drugs, and a militant stance against it is not necessarily a public virtue.
Marijuana has to be reclassified among other vices in the context of 2014. Society has become less expectant of powerful action against marijuana users, and, if anything, the NFL appears disproportionately vigilant.
Natural Pain Treatment
As more states legalize marijuana for medicinal and/or recreational use, the NFL’s testing and discipline has grown disproportionate, and the league might in fact be missing the opportunity to allow a more natural pain treatment than prescription drugs.
Nate Jackson, a former professional football player, in a column on The New York Times, wrote that “virtually every single player in the NFL has a certifiable need for medical marijuana.”
Jackson added that the sport “creates a life of daily pain for those who play it,” and so some players choose marijuana to manage the pain, allowing them to “perform at a high level without sacrificing their bodies or their minds.”
In the NFL, the standard pain management is pain pills and pregame injections. However, according to the former tight end, not all players favor the pill and needle approach. In Jackson’s experience, “many prefer marijuana.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there were more fatalities from illegal drug use than from painkiller abuse in 2000. By 2010, the positions had reversed, with almost 17,000 Americans dying after overdosing on opioid painkillers compared to 7,000 deaths from cocaine and heroin. In the most recent year for which data are available, five times as many Americans died of painkiller overdoses as died in fires. According to Jackson, these are the same pills he was “handed in full bottles after an injury.”
Professional football players are major consumers of three kinds of painkillers, namely, narcotic pills, injected local anesthesia, and Toradol. Several reports have been published on painkiller abuse in the NFL, and a group of former players has filed suit against the league, alleging that the clubs pushed to use painkillers without disclosing the risks of addiction.
Pulling back on marijuana discipline is being pushed forward, and the revelations of the use and abuse of painkillers in the NFL adds weight and relevance to this issue. Questions on whether or not marijuana can provide an alternative to prescription drug for a labor force that finds itself in pain throughout the season and beyond have aroused.
For many cancer and AIDS patients across the various states where medicinal use of the drug has been legalized, marijuana has proven to be a valuable tool in managing chronic pain. Published in the May 2013 issue of Pain Medicine, the research of University of Washington Clinical Professor Gregory Carter, MD, further documented the safety and efficacy of medical cannabis for chronic pain.
In March 1999, the Institute of Medicine published a report stating that, “In conclusion, the available evidence from animal and human studies indicates that cannabinoids can have a substantial analgesic effect.” The Americans for Safe Access stated in its online brochure that cannabis can serve an important role in safe, effective pain management by providing relief from the pain itself.
15 going on 35
Last month, after facing public outrage over the Gordon and Rice cases and after years of negotiations, the NFL has made an agreement with the player’s union to raise the threshold of marijuana needed in a player’s urine to constitute a positive test.
The new NFL policy raises the threshold from 15 nanograms per milliliter to 35 nanograms per milliliter. At face value, the increase may seem generous. However, in reality, the standard remains to be much lower than those of most other sports.
The Major League Baseball’s threshold for marijuana testing is 50 nanograms per milliliter. The World Anti-Doping Agency, which conducts Olympics testing, has a threshold of 150 nanograms per milliliter.
For airline pilots, the threshold is 50 nanograms per milliliter. Clearly, the new threshold remains to be too low for the NFL. Even a pilot who would fly a commercial jet with hundreds of lives in his/her hands has a higher allowable THC level than football players.
What is worse than the still relatively low threshold is that the NFL still will not permit any players to use marijuana medically, even when 15 teams are based in states where cannabis can be prescribed legally and most (if not all) players have a legitimate need for it to treat the chronic pain they endure as a result of the brutal game.
Like the federal government, the NFL still classifies marijuana as a drug on par with heroin, meth, cocaine, and other far more dangerous drugs. The harms of this policy are not abstract. Several former players have died of prescription drug overdoses, and many more battle addictions every day.
With the new NFL drug use policy, Broncos receiver Wes Welker, Rams receiver Stedman Bailer, Cowboys defensive back Orlando Scandrick, Giants lineman Eric Herman, and former Vikings defensive end Spencer Nealy were reinstated. Josh Gordon and former Colt LaVon Brazil have had their season-long suspensions reduced to 10 games, thanks to the revised drug policy. Gordon continues to be allowed to work out at the Browns’ training facility.
As part of the deal, the players agreed to new testing for human growth hormone, a performance-enhancing drug.
So what is your take about it? Leave a comment and let us know!
Why NFL’s Policy On Marijuana ‘Outdated,’ Needed Major Change is a post from: The Ultra LifeStyle Blog | Smokazon.com