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Should the NFL stop testing for marijuana? (1 Viewer)

jtp1982

jtp1982

Footballguy
MLB doesn’t test for it.  Just doesn’t seem like a good enough reason for us to miss out on a career like Martavis Bryant’s.

I don’t see what’s in it for the league.  I work in the automotive field, we employ a lot of young men in their early and mid 20s.  Unless you wreck a car, we don’t really drug test you.  Reason is a lot of guys at that age smoke some weed, and it’s hard enough to recruit good talent without getting that picky.

The best on-field product possible is probably going to include a pothead or two in the league. Who cares?

 
Being in HR and averaging 3000+ hires/year, I know this has been a challenge for years and with certain states legalizing it only blurred the lines. While we haven't publicly announced it, we no longer test for it. 

 
The NFLPA isn't going to use the limited power they have to get this policy changed.
The owners don't see enough/any pressure from the fans to change it.

Players have a lot of "useless" rules to follow. Follow them and make hundreds of
thousands of $$$$. Be an idiot and get cut.

Should it be allowed? Yes, but what would the players give up to get it?

 
They don't have tell us all that they have stopped doing it, they should just stop and let the guys hit a blunt rather than pop much more harmful pills.

 
This is about owners maximizing the productivity of their labor. The perception persists among the rich, old, white men who own NFL teams that smoking pot makes players less motivated and less focused, and therefore less efficient laborers. To maximize their productivity, they forbid them from ingesting this recreational drug that is in no way a performance-enhancing substance. 

 
rockaction said:
No. Testing for anything but performance-enhancing drugs is a silly and antiquated industry practice. 
Click to expand...
Pot is performance enhancing for some people, but I don't think it is harmful to the point where it should be tested for.  It is certainly less harmful than painkillers.

No employer wants a heroin or cocaine addicted employee.  Antiquated owners would put pot in the same category (which is also how the federal government views it).

 
All your points are taken to heart, but your second paragraph merely tells me why they should be able to test, not if it works or if it maximizes production in a way other things couldn't.

 
nightmare said:
The NFLPA isn't going to use the limited power they have to get this policy changed.
The owners don't see enough/any pressure from the fans to change it.

Players have a lot of "useless" rules to follow. Follow them and make hundreds of
thousands of $$$$. Be an idiot and get cut.

Should it be allowed? Yes, but what would the players give up to get it?
Click to expand...
I don’t understand what the owners get out of it.  Why would they want to lose their players over weed?

 
bigmarc27 said:
I don’t understand what the owners get out of it.  Why would they want to lose their players over weed?
Click to expand...
They get nothing out of it now. But they'll get something for it from the players when they end up relaxing this rule that they don't really care about.

 
The_Man said:
This is about owners maximizing the productivity of their labor. The perception persists among the rich, old, white men who own NFL teams that smoking pot makes players less motivated and less focused, and therefore less efficient laborers. To maximize their productivity, they forbid them from ingesting this recreational drug that is in no way a performance-enhancing substance. 
Click to expand...
Except there's a much more valid argument that the use of marijuana would make them more productive, not less.  Of course, these owners that would need to be convinced are overwhelmingly Trump voters that don't believe in Climate Change, so it's a massive mountain to climb to convince them of anything science-related.

 
Yes, of course.  And it should be legal across all 50 too.  Just like everything else it's way too political, too many people are uninformed and we have a very hard time shaking off social paradigms.

That being said most people in life understand consequences and sacrifices, whether you agree with the rules or not.  My employer is still testing for pot and as a result I haven't smoked any in over 20+ years.  After making sure my family is taken care of first I'm very much looking forward to that giant bong hit when I retire.  

 
nightmare said:
The NFLPA isn't going to use the limited power they have to get this policy changed.
The owners don't see enough/any pressure from the fans to change it.

Players have a lot of "useless" rules to follow. Follow them and make hundreds of
thousands of $$$$. Be an idiot and get cut.

Should it be allowed? Yes, but what would the players give up to get it?
Click to expand...
Bingo

Everyone knows its a dumb rule at this point but what the owners see is a GIANT amount of leverage.

Players want their weed? What are they willing to give up for it.

 
The weed ban is valuable to the owners only in that it is a giant club to be wielded against the players when they feel the need to swing it. It's for punishing disobedience when they can't get at the player for the real reason they want to smash him. Giving that leverage up would be a large sacrifice to the authoritarians who run football.

I don't think even the NFL's increasingly decrepit white fan base cares any more if the players are toking up between games.

 
The_Man said:
This is about owners maximizing the productivity of their labor. The perception persists among the rich, old, white men who own NFL teams that smoking pot makes players less motivated and less focused, and therefore less efficient laborers. To maximize their productivity, they forbid them from ingesting this recreational drug that is in no way a performance-enhancing substance. 
Click to expand...


I think the testing was implemented at a time when the war on drugs was a very big deal nationally. The motivation of drug testing was primarily about avoiding the negative PR at the time when players got busted for possession, and that it had little to do with maximizing performance. In the same way that avoiding negative PR is the primary motivation behind the other aspects of the conduct policy including domestic abuse.

I think the bigger question owners would ask themselves is whether society has come to accept marijuana use to the point where that negative PR hit is minimal enough that it isn't worth bothering with testing.  I would argue it has.  But I expect now it has just become a negotiating tool.  The owners won't give it up for nothing, so they will wait for a time it can get some concession back from the players to have the drug testing go away.

 
I've posted about this numerous times in the shark pool.

PLATERS ARE smoking weed. It's an IQ test. Piss clean
in Aug/Sept and you can do no wrong. Do not get caught
with it outside of your house(vehicle) and you can toke up
all you want.

The owners now use this rule along with Goodell's crazy
power as a bargaining chip for an 18 game season.

This is not about what is right or wrong.

 
Thorpe said:
Pot is performance enhancing for some people, but I don't think it is harmful to the point where it should be tested for.  It is certainly less harmful than painkillers.

No employer wants a heroin or cocaine addicted employee.  Antiquated owners would put pot in the same category (which is also how the federal government views it).
Click to expand...
Oh come on.  This isn't art class or creative writing.

 
Maybe the NFL should start testing for nicotine since nicotine is known to increase the heart rate.

It helps some people wake up.

I wouldn't be surprised if there's players using the nicotine patch during a game to get a leg up. 

 
jtp1982 said:
Just doesn’t seem like a good enough reason for us to miss out on a career like Martavis Bryant’s.
Click to expand...
The reason we aren't seeing Martavis Bryant is Martavis Bryant.  He made the choice.

Regardless of where people stand on the thread title.. it has nothing to do with why Bryant can't play.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
bigmarc27 said:
I don’t understand what the owners get out of it.  Why would they want to lose their players over weed?
Click to expand...
I feel like this question is backwards.

Why would a player want to lose an NFL career over weed?

I would agree they should stop testing, but the tests and weed aren't to blame for players getting suspended... the players are to blame for testing positive when they know they are going to be tested.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
They shouldn’t be testing for it. Pretty dumb.

Why are we conflating the issue with the Martavis Bryant stuff?

And, arguing they shouldn’t test for it because of its performance enhancement capabilities is silly. 

 
matuski said:
I feel like this question is backwards.

Why would a player want to lose an NFL career over weed?

I would agree they should stop testing, but the tests and weed aren't to blame for players getting suspended... the players are to blame for testing positive when they know they are going to be tested.
Click to expand...
It’s legal in a number of places now and honestly if I got beat up the way that they do, I’d be looking for pain relief as well. I worked out the past 4 nights and I could barely drag myself out of bed this morning. I’d be much more inclined to smoke a joint than to start popping pills. 

Im not a weed guy either.  I don’t smoke and I find the pro-marijuana people rather obnoxious, but for people that live off of beating the crap out of each other then I’m ok with it. 

 
bigmarc27 said:
It’s legal in a number of places now and honestly if I got beat up the way that they do, I’d be looking for pain relief as well. I worked out the past 4 nights and I could barely drag myself out of bed this morning. I’d be much more inclined to smoke a joint than to start popping pills. 

Im not a weed guy either.  I don’t smoke and I find the pro-marijuana people rather obnoxious, but for people that live off of beating the crap out of each other then I’m ok with it. 
Click to expand...
I don't disagree with a word posted here.

It still has nothing to do with why Martavis Bryant is not playing.

It is a rule he agreed to upon employment in the NFL.  He made the choices that lead to his suspensions.

Arguing that the testing should stop is not a defense/excuse for those failing the tests.

 
matuski said:
I don't disagree with a word posted here.

It still has nothing to do with why Martavis Bryant is not playing.

It is a rule he agreed to upon employment in the NFL.  He made the choices that lead to his suspensions.

Arguing that the testing should stop is not a defense/excuse for those failing the tests.
Click to expand...
Yeah I was speaking more globally. I don’t care about Martavis, he’s an embarrassment to my alma mater. 

 
matuski said:
I feel like this question is backwards.

Why would a player want to lose an NFL career over weed?

I would agree they should stop testing, but the tests and weed aren't to blame for players getting suspended... the players are to blame for testing positive when they know they are going to be tested.
Click to expand...


matuski said:
I don't disagree with a word posted here.

It still has nothing to do with why Martavis Bryant is not playing.

It is a rule he agreed to upon employment in the NFL.  He made the choices that lead to his suspensions.

Arguing that the testing should stop is not a defense/excuse for those failing the tests.
Click to expand...
Ya totally blows me away the guy can’t stop smoking weed for a few years so he can make a freaking fortune playing football.  Entirely his fault and really dumb.  I didn’t bring this up to defend Bryant or even make a point about weed, it’s not my thing.

If you get a high paying job and they enforce some random pointless rule, and complying is easily worth the money, you just do it and cash your check.  I get it. 

I just didn’t get why this random pointless thing existed in the league so I started the thread. Makes sense this used to be a bigger cultural taboo and now owners hold onto it so they have a bargaining chip like you guys have said. Never even thought of that so glad I asked.

 
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