Drug Bizarro Says 70 Percent
Of the World's Best Athletes Use Marijuana
And This Sends The Wrong Message That 70 Percent Of The World's Best Athletes Use
Marijuana
(Ed. note: Frankly, protecting the rights of NBA
players to smoke marijuana ranks very low on my hierarchy of concerns. This is certainly
something to be worked out in negotiations between the players and their owners.However,
when the DEAland Drug Czar feels it necessary to pen an op-ed for the Washington Post
– which will be dutifully reprinted in other prohibitionist propaganda organs around
the country – about monitoring the urine of these people, it is indicative of the
degraded state of the public discourse. This is such an intellectual muddle that it is
easy to understand why substance abuse is serious problem among young people in America.
If not using drugs causes this kind of confusion, they might be better off stoned.
When I say that marijuana prohibition is not merely a failure but actually a
counterproductive fraud, it is precisely this sort of drivel that I have in mind.
Recently North Korea announced that the late Kim Il Sung will remain head of state.
While this may seem a bit strange, the following statement by our Drug Czar suggests that
we should withhold judgement. While General McCaffrey seems a bit more animated, his
intellectual qualities and regard for individual rights indicate that Mr. Kim might make a
worthy successor when his tenure in Pyongyang finally ends.)
A Clean and Sober NBA
(Ed. note: Sober? The Czar’s opening sentence begins with a
cliché about irony. The word alcohol does not appear in this column. Could this be
because beer companies are among the heaviest advertisers of sporting events?)
By Barry R. McCaffrey
September 30, 1998
Op-ed Page
There is tragic irony in the fact that the same game that provided many of the players
in the National Basketball Association a way out of drug-infested neighborhoods has now
become a symbol of drug use. As Darcy Frey writes in his book "The Last Shot,"
for many young people growing up in tough neighborhoods "there
is basketball, and when that doesn’t work out, there is drugs."
(Ed. note: The reference is to drug trafficking which is a product
of the prohibition which the Czar maintains, but why is it that these are the only two
choices? Why are the ‘hoods "drug-infested?" Prohibition.)
See
How The Narcs Created Crack
Now a significant number of NBA players, it seems, escaped the streets only to
move up the social ladder of drug use.
(Ed. note: The social ladder of drug use? Does this mean Scotch in
stead of malt liquor?)
Sadly, the league that once embodied their dreams now provides a safe haven for drug
abuse, a culture that effectively encourages it, a large bankroll to support it, and maybe
a habit that will eventually destroy them.
According to some estimates, as many as 70 percent of NBA players
may be current drug users.
(Ed. note: There is absolutely no hard data behind this
number. It is based on the statement of one or two players. In any case, note how
marijuana equals all "drugs." The NBA does test for hard drugs.)
Marijuana, which players can use with impunity from league sanctions because it is not
prohibited under the existing NBA rules, accounts for the bulk of this use (making
it routine for players to build an addiction bad enough to run afoul of the law before
their problem receives attention).
(Ed. note: Some of the young men in the NBA have a difficult time
adjusting to the transition from poverty to great wealth. They also demonstrate the
behavioral problems of their background and age group. Kids would have no idea about the
marijuana use of the players if the prohibitionists weren’t making an issue of it and
if marijuana weren’t illegal.)
See
Minor Disaster
for Prohibitionists! Rebagliati To Keep Olympic Gold Medal; Marijuana Discussed
and
The Relative Addictiveness of Drugs According to NIDA's Own Researcher
To their credit, NBA Commissioner David Stern and the league have made it clear the
marijuana loophole must close. But the NBA Players’ Association has refused to go
along with this effort so far. This impasse has been one factor in the lockout that now
threatens the 1998-99 season. The NBA and the players need to break this stalemate and
craft an effective drug policy that is fair to all—the league, the players, the fans,
the game and our children.
Youth drug use is driven by attitudes; drug use by NBA players sends the wrong message
to our nation’s children.
(Ed. note: The private marijuana use of the players "sends the
wrong message to our nation’s children," but the beer commercials on during the
game do not? Alcohol use among children is a much greater social and individual health
problem than marijuana use. This does not mean that beer commercials should be banned, but
rather children need to be taught the difference between what is acceptable for adults and
for children, and public and private behavior and truth and lies. The same lesson needs to
be learned by almost everyone in government, but most especially by the Drug Czar.)
See
Drug Czar
Lies About the Dutch Again, Who Respond With The Facts; Drug Czar’s Aid Says,
"forces at work to legalize drugs are trying to bring these wonderfully allied
governments into conflict."
Millions of young people emulate these sports heroes—from their free throw stance
to their drug use. When young people see elite athletes using drugs,
they get the false message that they can use drugs and still be winners.
(Ed. note: Good grief! When do the "young people see elite athletes using
drugs?" Do they smoke marijuana on the bench or in after-game interviews? Second, if
elite athletes do use marijuana, then why is it a "false message" that people
can use marijuana and still be winners? Olympic Gold Medalists use marijuana. True or
false? The Vice President and the Speaker of the House and at least one Supreme Court
Justice smoked marijuana, and inhaled. True or false? The fact is that most marijuana
users have no problem with their marijuana use. This certainly would appear to be true of
the NBA if 70% use marijuana.)
See
Olympic Gold
Medal Swimmer To Fight Suspension For Testing Positive for Marijuana; Here We Go Again!
Worse yet, they fail to grasp the risks drugs pose to their lives, health and dreams.
And the risks here are real. As the Len Bias tragedy shows, drugs
can kill.
(Ed. note: Typical bait and switch. This sort of practice is
illegal in the used car business, but the ethical level is higher there than in the used
drug policy business. Len Bias was killed by cocaine and alcohol, not by marijuana. The
topic is marijuana. The NBA already tests for cocaine.)
Studies also show that marijuana and other drugs increase a ballplayer’s
likelihood of a career-ending injury.
(Ed. note: Really? What studies show that marijuana use increases
the likelihood of injuries? How can he say this and at the same time say that 70% use
marijuana? If 70% of the players are marijuana users, then the fact would seem to be that
the best athletes in the world can use marijuana and get paid millions in the process.
This is the truth that the Drug Czar is trying to stamp out by marijuana testing.)
One reason injuries increase is that drug use impairs coordination and athletic
abilities, which for many players may mean the difference between riding the NBA bench and
walking hard streets. The impacts go beyond the individual player; everyone around him is
affected. Team morale and achievement suffer when drug use compromises the game of a
player. The fans, who pay to watch these players at their best, are shortchanged.
These risks trickle down to all the youngsters trying to make the NBA grade; think of
how many young people blow a chance at the big league when they fall into drug use. And
when basketball no longer offers an opportunity to make it—into the league, or to
college or to a better job in a better place—more children will turn to drugs instead
of sport.
(Ed. note: In reality, if young people listen to the Drug Czar or to
HHS Secretary Shalala and believe that there is no difference between marijuana and the
hard drugs, they will get into trouble.)
See
Shalala Says That
Parents Are Wrong To Be Relieved
That Their Children Are Using Marijuana Instead Of Heroin!
The prevalence of drug use in basketball also diminishes the stature of the game and the
men who play it. Parents, whose primary concern today is youth drug use, do not want to
pay ever increasing ticket prices to raise the stature of athletes who, in effect, promote
drug use.
Some players are trying to change the game’s reputation. For example, the New York
Knicks’ Charlie Ward has spoken out strongly against drugs. The San Antonio
Spurs’ David Robinson has helped organize anti-drug programs for kids. And Charles
Barkley, noted for his role-model reticence, has called for a Draconian NBA drug-testing
scheme.
(Ed. note: Is that supposed to be convincing?)
Others, however, continue to display an above-the-law attitude about drugs. The league
needs to join the millions of Americans who work in drug-free workplaces—and for
wages far less than the average NBA player’s $2.6 million salary. Roughly 70 percent
of full-time adult American workers are employed by companies that have drug-free
workplace programs. A 1995 Gallup poll found that 72 percent of Americans want drug
testing in their workplace. Sixty-seven percent supported random drug testing by
employers. Sixty-one percent of people believe that professional athletes should be
subject to more significant penalties if they fail a drug test.
(Ed. note: Taking this at face value, why is the fact that similar
majorities oppose arresting sick people for using medical marijuana is not persuasive to
the Drug Czar?)
As these results reflect, in the eyes of most Americans, ending drug use in the NBA
is not about imposing a higher standard; it is about asking athletes to meet the same bare
minimum standard that applies to our society as a whole.
The NBA and the players need to develop a strengthened drug policy that, among other
things, closes the marijuana loophole and provides standards for effective drug testing.
The policy should be based on fairness; like any good drug-free workplace program it
should apply to everyone—from the players to management. It also should be part of a
comprehensive program that focuses on prevention and treatment, but holds out sanctions
where appropriate. Such a change in approach is overdue and must result from this round of
talks.
(Ed. note: There is no reason that the highly paid NBA players
should not be subject to the same degradation as everyone else. That is the true meaning
of equality. The true meaning of freedom has long sense gone down the memory hole.)
See
African American
Originally Charged With Possession of Something That Looked Like Marijuana Now Charged
With Looking Like He Was Under the Influence
The writer is director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.
© Copyright 1998 The Washington Post Company
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