NFL Players are QUITTING at an alarming rate over Cannabis Debate…What side of the fence are you on?
The first time I heard about an NFL player quitting his multi-million dollar job over being able to smoke weed, I thought what most Americans would think, how stupid can a person be? Then I heard it again. Then again and now hearing about Dallas Cowboys star Defensive End David Irving on his YouTube video, announcing that he is quitting the National Football League after the league announced it was suspending Irving for the third time after he failed another urine test for marijuana.
Irving has always been upfront about his love for the occasional smoke session and claims it has never interfered with his job and he has never come to a football event impaired in any way. His stats prove this as he has always played at a very high level over his short career in Kansas City and Dallas. In this latest video, Irving claims he is “done with this” and that there is no need to suspend him because “he quits”. Now, some may see a big man-child stomping his feet because he can’t get high, but lets look a little deeper into the situation and you may, like me, see a different view to this problem.
First off, lets state the obvious on both sides of the coin. The NFL will tell you that they have rules in place specifically for “player’s safety” and if you don’t like the rules don’t play in the league. That’s understandable. However, marijuana is now legal in 33 of the states here in the US, and the players are stating that what they do in their free time, as long as they do not break the law, is their business. Just because you test positive for marijuana definitely does not mean you are impaired at that time period.
The league recently raised the level of marijuana needed in your blood to be considered positive so there has been progress in meeting halfway with the players. Now that is just the recreational side of this topic. There is a much more serious side to this topic and it is much more controversial. Baltimore Raven player Eugene Monroe recently announced his retirement from the NFL because of the same issue. He was not allowed to use marijuana either, but Eugene Moore claimed he was using marijuana for pain management because he refused to take the opiate medication that the league doctors seem to be “cramming down the player’s throats”! Now this is where the whole topic takes a turn for me.
I am a recovering heroin addict and opiate addiction is one of the hardest and most destructive things I have ever gone through personally, so I would love to see a player avoid this dark road in any way available. If Mr. Moore is sincere and he is really using marijuana and CBD oil for pain management instead of the opiates that the NFL is giving players, then I would highly suggest other players take a stand and force the league to rethink their marijuana policy.
Is the NFL accurately tracking their past players and their opiate addictions caused from their playing days? Is the league offering coaching or any professional help for it’s current and past players? I would lean towards the idea that no they are not. If I were the commissioner of the NFL, I would think long and hard about this topic. The Commissioner, Roger Goodell, has earned over $200 million in his first 10 years on the job. He is hired by the owners of the NFL teams. Now, if these same teams keep losing good players because of his stance on marijuana there may come a day soon where Mr. Goodell loses his job over this topic.
So which side of the fence are you on? Do you fall on the side that states rules are rules and if you don’t like the rules don’t play? Or are you on the side that states the fact that marijuana is legal in 33 states so whatever the players do on their own time is their business? Or are you on the more serious side that states punishing a player for using marijuana for pain, yet fills them up with as many opioid pain pills as they can handle to get them back on the playing field to make the NFL product as good as possible?
–Tim
No matter which side you are on, we here at The Addictions Coach specialize in helping professional athletes, both past and present, recover from addiction caused by pain meds given to them in their playing days. Contact us at https://theaddictioncoachonline.com or call us 24/7 at 1-800-706-0318 to get information on all our coaching programs to help you get clean and sober and stay clean and sober. And as always, head over to our website testimonial page to hear from the hundreds of those who used The Addictions Coach to change their lives for the better.
