Former NFL OT Says 50% of Players Get High.............

Former NFL lineman: At least 50 percent of players use marijuana

http://www.trbimg.com/img-4fb7b418/t...120519-001/600 Lomas Brown #75 of the Cleveland Browns during a NFL football game against the Cincinnati Bengals on October 10, 1999 at Cleveland Browns Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio. (Mitchell Layton/Getty Images / May 19, 2012)

Reuters 9:42 a.m. CDT, May 19, 2012

The Sports Xchange

Former NFL lineman: At least 50 percent of players use marijuana.

Former NFL offensive lineman Lomas Brown, an ESPN analyst, believes more than half of NFL players smoke marijuana.

Brown made his claim to the Detroit News on Friday.

He said that three marijuana-related arrests of Detroit Lions players this offseason are just examples of what is a widespread problem in the league.

"I just don't think you'll be able to curb this," Brown told the newspaper.

Brown said the problem was much worse when he joined the NFL in 1985, when he believes perhaps 90 percent of players smoked marijuana.

A CBS Sports report in April found that four out of 10 draft-eligible players this year failed at least one drug test at school and two of 10 failed more than once.

About 70 percent of prospects at the draft combine admitted to using marijuana, according to an ESPN report.

In 2009, roughly one-fourth of all football players admitted to marijuana use over the past year, which was the highest of any sport surveyed, in an NCAA report.

I'm not actually surprised at all to hear that marijuana usage has probably declined since the 80's. The testing procedures then weren't as stringent as they are now. This is one issue they should probably stop making such a big deal about. As long as it's not over done to the point of illegality, like dealing it, casual usage isn't anymore harmful or maybe even less so that alcohol.

The don't suspend player for taking a drink and I think suspending them for having a trace of THC in their system should stop as well. They pump all kinds of pain relievers into some of these kids to get them through a game or a season yet they want to bitch about marijuana?

If someone thinks that pot is more dangerous from any standpoint than Vicodin or Percocets or Oxy's then maybe they should ask old Lord Favre to comment on that. And I'm sure at least 100 more will back him up. So take a pain killer to get you through the game but don't you dare light up a joint of relax after it?

I'm so desensitized to it that it's actually comical to me. There are at least five times as many pot dispensaries within a 5 mile radius of my place as there are liquor stores and that doesn't even count the warehouses where it's being grown by the ton. :motown:

So in the words of Don Henley I think it's time to "Get Over It". JMHO.

The achiness starts a few hours after the game is over. When you wake up the next morning you feel like one giant bruise, you don't feel like moving , you have to use your arms to move your legs off the bed, and when you stand up and start moving you feel like a 90yr old man. It's takes a long time (just forcing yourself to move) before you start to feel a tiny bit better. The second day is usually a little worse. Third day is better and by the weekend ur almost back to 100%. The weed helps dull the pain and makes things more tolerable. Either it's that or sneak the painkillers ( which are worse for you ). What these guys put their bodies through .... I can't say I blame them . As far as coping, what does the NFL really expect them to do , nothing ? Most guys aren't trying to become burn-outs , they're just trying to take the edge off. They should have a realistic perspective ( not a boy scouts ) and let a little of this stuff slide.

:goodpost:

LOL, I wake up some days feeling like I'm 90 years old and I'm not even playing football. Maybe I should go back to smoking a little weed now and again. :lol-032:

But...but...but, I thought guys got kicked out of the league all the time for this and I was making myself look dumb by insisting it's in every locker room in the NFL.

This isn't a surprise, in fact it's a bit on the low side of what I have heard. I brought up the stat about combine test failures and admitting of usage a few months ago.

Quote:

Originally Posted by soulman

"I just don't think you'll be able to curb this," Brown told the newspaper.

wouldnt be too hard...mandatory drug testing, and lose your job and any guaranteed money coming to you if you test positive.

Its a simple decision...do you want to smoke weed, or make millions of dollars?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jimmors

wouldnt be too hard...mandatory drug testing, and lose your job and any guaranteed money coming to you if you test positive.

Its a simple decision...do you want to smoke weed, or make millions of dollars?

That right there in a nut shell is what my union does. I had a choice and I chose the money. Not that I dont miss it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jimmors

wouldnt be too hard...mandatory drug testing, and lose your job and any guaranteed money coming to you if you test positive.

Its a simple decision...do you want to smoke weed, or make millions of dollars?

I'm self-employed and like many other I can do both if I choose, so why the restrictions on those boys. It's never affected my ability to do my job when I did smoke. Jimmor's they're fighting a losing battle. Employers all over the Globe subject employees to random drug tests and yet their employees go right on smoking weed. That doesn't stop it at all. I'm not certain it even limits it. Hell I know guys who were smoking it while on probation and risking being sent back to prison over it. You think that stopped them?

If the NFL thinks they're gonna eliminate it they should think again. And if they begin to suspend too many over a "hot piss test" they better start upping the cap and expanding rosters. They'll need it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by soulman

I'm self-employed and like many other I can do both if I choose, so why the restrictions on those boys. It's never affected my ability to do my job when I did smoke. Jimmor's they're fighting a losing battle. Employers all over the Globe subject employees to random drug tests and yet their employees go right on smoking weed. That doesn't stop it at all. I'm not certain it even limits it. Hell I know guys who were smoking it while on probation and risking being sent back to prison over it. You think that stopped them?

If the NFL thinks they're gonna eliminate it they should think again. And if they begin to suspend too many over a "hot piss test" they better start upping the cap and expanding rosters. They'll need it.

Because unlike 99.9% of the population they are paid, and paid in the millions of dollars to be in peak physical condition. So yeah...doing drugs *could* hamper their abilities to perform their duties (pro athletes).

What they do when they retire is their business, but it isnt too much to ask for them to not smoke weed while they are professional athletes. And that isnt even touching on their status as role models for kids.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jimmors

Because unlike 99.9% of the population they are paid, and paid in the millions of dollars to be in peak physical condition. So yeah...doing drugs *could* hamper their abilities to perform their duties (pro athletes).

What they do when they retire is their business, but it isnt too much to ask for them to not smoke weed while they are professional athletes. And that isnt even touching on their status as role models for kids.

Well the kids, or at least the teens, probably smoke more weed these days than they do. I think it's been a long time since pro athletes in general (there are exceptions) have been the role models they were for us decades ago but that's another thing altogether.

For a long time musicians and other entertainers have taken the place of pro athletes as a focal point for the young. Especially those who have no interest in sports and their numbers seem to be growing at least from what I observe around me. Kids don't spend their time playing ball in the sandlots or their backyards or on school playgrounds as much anymore. Video games and the computer have captured more of their time so some seldom see themselves following after some sports hero anymore. It's action games and violence that captures their imaginations more so than Madden Football.

I know if comes down to an "image thing" as far as the NFL is concerned and I do understand that aspect of it, and I'm not in total disagreement with it either, but as it stands right now they have other things hurting their image far more than that. If those young kids who still do have an interest in football are restricted from playing it because their parents fear permanent brain injuries where's the next generation of avid football fans going to come from let alone enough players to provide the supply needed at every level it's played at?

These issues with head injuries and permanent brain damage have a lot to do with the future viability of NFL Football right now. If they start losing major lawsuits over this stuff owners are gonna be selling out like commodities speculators when gold prices plummet. The financial risks are huge.

If I were the NFL I'd be more concerned with that ongoing problem right now rather than whether or not some of their player partake of the "evil weed" from time to time. I'm sure most of their use is in the offseason where they're not exposed to random testing anyway so I doubt it has much effect on their in season play and it won't detract from physical conditioning anymore than alcohol will if both are used in moderation.

I understand the issue. I just think more is being made of it than should be. If 90% of the players were lighting up in the 80's and only 50% today I'd say the problem is self correcting. When there's more money on the table, better testing for drugs, and more risk of losing that money most of the time problems diminish. Among the players Goodell's beginning to get a rep as a power crazed "bully" and no matter how much the owners may offer support in his favor when it comes right down to it they need their players more than they need him.

They hired him, and they can fire him too.