Roger Goodell Says Medical Marijuana Might Not Be Safe Enough For Grown Men Who Hurt Each Other For a Living
Football is more dangerous than pot.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell isn't ready to take medical marijuana off the league's list of banned substances because the drug might be "negative to the health of our players," he told ESPN on Friday.
More from the man who suspended Buffalo Bills offensive tackle Seantrel Henderson--who's undergone two surgeries related to Crohn's disease--for 10 games as a result of his medical marijuana use:
"I think you still have to look at a lot of aspects of marijuana use," Goodell said. "Is it something that can be negative to the health of our players?
"Listen, you're ingesting smoke, so that's not usually a very positive thing that people would say. It does have addictive nature. There are a lot of compounds in marijuana that may not be healthy for the players long term. All of those things have to be considered.
"And it's not as simple as someone just wants to feel better after a game. We really want to help our players in that circumstance, but I want to make sure that the negative consequences aren't something that is going to be something that we'll be held accountable for some years down the road."
Aside from the apparent connection between marijuana and people who are genetically predisposed to schizophrenia, there is no compound in cannabis worse for human beings--in the short term or the long term--than football itself. Marijuana will not tear your meniscus or your ACL or your MCL or your achilles tendon. Marijuana will not give you bursitis. Marijuana will not break your back or neck. Marijuana will not give you chronic traumatic encephalopathy. As for the carcinogenic effect: You don't even have to smoke it anymore!
How does Goodell not know these things? I have never run a sports league before. Maybe he genuinely lacks the time to read Reason.com on the merits of liberalizing cannabis laws and workplace policies. (Then again, I have to imagine he makes time for Dallas Cowboys' owner Jerry Jones, the league's loudest voice in favor of dropping the pot ban.) Goodell could also be setting the stage for negotiations with the players union in 2020. As Reason's Eric Boehm noted earlier this month, banned substances are part of the collective bargaining agreement.
Or perhaps Goodell's busy navigating the consequences of things the league does condone, and which are demonstrably more dangerous than marijuana. ESPN.com's Kevin Seifert reports that 1,800 former players are suing the NFL for "improper and deceptive prescription drug-distribution practices." The league is also on the hook for a billion dollars in benefits to retired players suffering from traumatic brain injury. Making those problems go away doesn't leave a lot of time for leisure reading. In which case, Goodell should just check out this video from Reason.tv:
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"Listen, you're ingesting smoke, so that's not usually a very positive thing that people would say." OK, then what about vaping, edibles or a topical.
"It does have addictive nature. There are a lot of compounds in marijuana that may not be healthy for the players long term. All of those things have to be considered." Any more than NSAIDs mixed with opioids that the NFL hands out like candy?
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There are far more habitual marijuana users than there are opioid addicts.
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Why, in SIV's coop alone, the ratio is 15:1.
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And there are far more habitual coffee drinkers than there are opioid addicts.
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Far more than the habitual dope-smokers !
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But our lobby keeps caffeine legal!
(I still love George Carlin's monologue about when the office coffee machine breaks. Greatest line: "then we find out that caffeine really IS the low end of the speed spectrum!) -
The difference being that we choose to enjoy cannabis. Beyond that anyone who is unable to differentiate between opioids and cannabis is in desperate need of a check up from the neck up.
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Does the league ban cigarettes and cigars?
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Or alcohol?
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Or coffee?
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Or wife beating?
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the man who suspended Buffalo Bills offensive tackle Seantrel Henderson--who's undergone two surgeries related to Crohn's disease
Don't wanna be a thug, don't have an irritable bowel.
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Roger Goodell is a moron.
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I've said it before: mj works much better for me than painkillers. It's a matter of personal chemistry.
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It's a matter of personal chemistry.
You should see the amazing shit that Mongo's carbon atoms can pull off.
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Electrons?
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Mongo just pawn in game of life.
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Yeah, but with no risk of overdose, where's the excitement? I'll take Percocet any day.
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Goodell out of touch with reality? The hell you say! I'm sure this is how he showed up to the interview:
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Football needs to die an ugly death.
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RE: Roger Goodell Says Medical Marijuana Might Not Be Safe Enough For Grown Men Who Hurt Each Other For a Living
This would explain why my Chicago Bears had a 3-13 season and such a terrible draft.
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So, kudos to Phila. fans who booed the crap out of this moron on Draft Day?
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3 of the last 4 Super Bowl winners came from States with legal cannabis.
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I don't see any tremendous benefit to the general population by tactily encouraging football players to consume more mind-altering substances than they already are consuming. Goodell's poor arguments have nothing to do with anything, and the NFL and it's teams are not state actors. I don't see the NFL's hypocrisy as justification, as it clearly needs to get a handle on the opiate issue.
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Any possibility at all that the real concern is the reported mellowing effect of the devil weed? Any possibility at all? Who will pay a few hundred bucks for admission and twenty bucks a beer to watch two teams of pot heads fight over the chips?
I mean really! Think it through. -
Ignorance is abundant in the NFL.
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Roger is clearly the stupidest league commissioner of all sports.
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"Aside from the apparent connection between marijuana and people who are genetically predisposed to schizophrenia, there is no compound in cannabis worse for human beings--in the short term or the long term--than football itself. Marijuana will not tear your meniscus or your ACL or your MCL or your achilles tendon. Marijuana will not give you bursitis. Marijuana will not break your back or neck. Marijuana will not give you chronic traumatic encephalopathy. As for the carcinogenic effect: You don't even have to smoke it anymore!"
EXACTLY. His faux-concern is transparent and disgusting. And you didn't even mention concussions and increased depression.
