So, this is a pretty powerful message. You have a current NFL player in Ryan Clark (who in all likelihood will be looking at vast opportunity after his playing career finishes to be an executive for the players' association) that says his teammates use marijuana consistently for medicine/pain tolerance purposes. He also appears to be very comfortable with that fact. We also have Max Kellerman and Marcellus Wiley go off about the matter on SportsNation and bring up some valid arguments on why marijuana is tested (Very loosely, as Marcellus states).
Let a couple things be known, I will not smoke anything in my life, no matter how legal it is or isn't. It's a personal choice I decided to make a long time ago and will choose to continue on in that direction. That doesn't mean people who smoke marijuana (tobacco smoke bothers me, a lot) are doing something wrong, in my eyes. Now, I'm not of the belief it benefits people to the extent that many others do.
One of my best friends gets high every single day. She chooses to do this to improve her mood and use it as a stress reliever. She has ventured into many other drugs throughout her life but hasn't done any others for quite some time and will likely not be doing so again in the future. That said, she clearly states that the main reason she has tried other drugs is because of the way marijuana made her feel and society made her think that marijuana is a drug and she should try some others just to see what's up with those.
Looking beyond the financial implications (people who live off dealing, potential tax money the gov't could make from sales, etc), why does it make sense for marijuana to be legal or illegal? I don't handle the thought of this subject well. I get drunk maybe 4-10 times per year, I casually have beer/other alcoholic beverages with dinner once every other week, maybe. I don't believe that when I'm drunk I am more capable or recover any better than a person who is high on marijuana alone, in fact I firmly believe I'm worse off than they are as far as being a functional human being.
Thoughts on athletes using marijuana?
