NFLPA Proposes Softening League's Approach to Weed

Ricky Williams weed jersey. pic.twitter.com/87hn3SRyo0
— Sean Newell (@dontforgetmac) January 28, 2014

Fans know that the "wacky tobacky," as your extremely unfunny Trump-supporting uncle calls it, has gotten athletes in trouble before, but soon it may not be a major issue for anyone in the NFL. The NFL Players Association is readying a proposal that may allow Team Green to partake without the sword of Dumbocles, err commissioner Roger Goodell, hanging over their heads/bongs.

According to a Mark Maske article in today's Washington Post, the union is seeking a less punitive approach in dealing with players who toke. It's in the early stages, but the union's new pain management committee, a subcommittee of the one focused on traumatic brain injury, wants to study marijuana's efficacy in helping players manage the game's inherent physical toll. Marijuana is currently banned, and current violators face fine and suspension. DeMaurice Smith, the NFLPA's executive director, believes it's time to revisit that policy.

"'We have to do a better job of knowing if our players are suffering from other potentially dangerous psychological issues like depression, right?' Smith said. 'So if I look at this myopically as just a recreational use of marijuana and miss the fact that we might have players suffering from depression, what have I fixed? Worse yet, you may have solved an issue that gets the steady drumbeat in a newspaper but miss an issue like chronic depression . . . where a person theoretically might be able to smoke more weed because it makes them feel better but it's not curing their depression.

'So to me, as we're looking at that front end — and it's been a long process — the reason why I think it's more complicated than just making a quick decision about recreational use is we look at these things as a macro-issue. And what we try to do is what a union's supposed to do: improve the health and safety of our players in a business that sometimes can seriously exacerbate existing physical and mental issues.'"

Smith also spoke about having to determine if there are "addiction issues" relative to marijuana, which is a strange thing to say when such issues pale in comparison to the addictive qualities of the league-approved painkillers pushed on players by teams, a point that former Ravens lineman Eugene Monroe broke down here. Maybe Smith was just throwing a good-faith bone to the league's anti-drug types.

Earlier today, Commissioner Goodell told Colin "Dougie" Cowherd that the NFL is open to considering a more tolerant marijuana policy in the next collective bargaining agreement. Until there are actual negotiations, though, there's no way of knowing if the league is serious. Goodell's posturing that "several years ago we did take a less-punitive approach to marijuana" is less than inspiring, however. Presumably the commissioner is referring to 2014, when the league raised the threshold for a positive test from 15 nanograms per milliliter of urine—the most stringent threshold in sports—to 35. For comparison, WADA considers a positive test to be 150ng/mL.

It may be a moot point in Jeff Sessions America, given the likely Attorney General's past statements that "good people" don't get groovy with the grass. (Although, to be fair, his most recent answers have been more benign and/or guarded, so who the hell knows?)

Easing players' pain should be a top priority, but the NFL is a conservative league ruled by old-fashioned, bourbon-swilling daddies. It remains to be seen what will become of a warmer, fuzzier approach to recreational weed usage, but there is one thing that fans, players, and NFL bigwigs can agree on: there is at least some hope in dope.