Schools easing athlete penalties for marijuana, report says

[Alamo City Husker]

"Through my years in coaching, I can almost pick out the guys who have a marijuana problem," Riley said. "You give me three weeks with a team and, if you've got five guys, I could get three or four of them."


http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/14449159/many-power-five-schools-step-pot-easement-trend

[Elf]

The punishment for an athlete using Cannabis should be the exact same as the punishment for drinking alcohol.

[Enhance]

I've always been torn on this.

 

On one hand, you have my personal belief that marijuana should be legalized. Also, there are reports players use marijuana to ease the pain of playing the game and it allows them to avoid taking excessive amounts of pain pills.

 

On the other hand, there's no way breathing in lung fulls of smoke is good for a player's athleticism. They're also division one athletes - if you can't give up the pipe in order to take advantage of your incredible gifts then you are an immensely selfish and immature person.

[Hujan]

I've always been torn on this.

 

On one hand, you have my personal belief that marijuana should be legalized. Also, there are reports players use marijuana to ease the pain of playing the game and it allows them to avoid taking excessive amounts of pain pills.

 

On the other hand, there's no way breathing in lung fulls of smoke is good for a player's athleticism. They're also division one athletes - if you can't give up the pipe in order to take advantage of your incredible gifts then you are an immensely selfish and immature person.

 

Depends how it's ingested. A pipe on a frequent basis is maybe not awesome. A vape or water-based device is perhaps less of an issue. If I were to have ever engaged in such activities, I would have found that it had a surprisingly insignificant effect on my cardio. Allegedly.

[Elf]

I've always been torn on this.

 

On one hand, you have my personal belief that marijuana should be legalized. Also, there are reports players use marijuana to ease the pain of playing the game and it allows them to avoid taking excessive amounts of pain pills.

 

On the other hand, there's no way breathing in lung fulls of smoke is good for a player's athleticism. They're also division one athletes - if you can't give up the pipe in order to take advantage of your incredible gifts then you are an immensely selfish and immature person.

Vaping is not as bad as smoking a pipe. With smoking you are inhaling all the pollutants that are naturally present in pretty much anything you burn, crap like carbon monoxide.

 

I am fortunate to live in a State that has legalized for medical purposes ( we also have legalized recreational Cannabis ). I deal with chronic pain from multiple sources, diabetic neuropathy, chronic plantar fasciitis and muscle spasms across my lower back. Here we can also buy Cannabis in edible form, cookies, brownies, drinks, etc etc. For these reasons I've had a medical license since before recreational Cannabis was made legal and I can testify to its effectiveness as a pain killer.

 

All this said, I don't believe we should be telling anyone else what they can do with their own bodies. Those people that choose to do destructive things to their bodies need to understand only they are responsible for the results.

[broganreynik]

Edibles are the way to go if you're an athlete.

[Savage Husker]

Quotes from Mike Riley and Randy Gregory, amongst others, about how NCAA and athletic programs manage pot usage in athletic programs

 

http://collegefootball.ap.org/huskermax/article/ap-exclusive-schools-ease-athlete-penalties-marijuana

 

http://collegefootball.ap.org/huskermax/article/qa-drug-testing-ncaa-medical-chief

 

I'm on the fence about the topic of it being legalized and used, however I'd vote to legalize it for many reasons, primarily because I believe it should be up to an individual to make their own decisions. I'm not a huge fan of the Gregory quotes either, this isn't exactly a topic I'd like an athletic program I follow to be in the limelight of. Especially when he starts talking about PED usage too.

[Savage Husker]

Shoot, sorry. I just now saw the other thread.

[StPaulHusker]

The only problem I have with them easing the rules of marijuana use is if not all P5 schools are on the same page with penalties or lack thereof.

 

I don't want to see Nebraska have to suspend our best player for a game for something that the opposing team lets slide. I am sure it happens from time to time anyway but if the P5 wants autonomy from the NCAA they need their own comprehensive set of directions on how to handle things like this BEFORE teams get too far gone on what will or will not be accepted.

[Savage Husker]

I've always been torn on this.

 

On one hand, you have my personal belief that marijuana should be legalized. Also, there are reports players use marijuana to ease the pain of playing the game and it allows them to avoid taking excessive amounts of pain pills.

 

On the other hand, there's no way breathing in lung fulls of smoke is good for a player's athleticism. They're also division one athletes - if you can't give up the pipe in order to take advantage of your incredible gifts then you are an immensely selfish and immature person.

I'm right there with you. I don't think pot is good for everybody and have seen people change who they are, not in a good way, by smoking too much. On the other hand, I believe it's a person's own right to decide what they put in their body. I don't believe it improves performance for an athlete, like other substances, and I'd say it's no worse than drinking.

[Enhance]

 

I've always been torn on this.

 

On one hand, you have my personal belief that marijuana should be legalized. Also, there are reports players use marijuana to ease the pain of playing the game and it allows them to avoid taking excessive amounts of pain pills.

 

On the other hand, there's no way breathing in lung fulls of smoke is good for a player's athleticism. They're also division one athletes - if you can't give up the pipe in order to take advantage of your incredible gifts then you are an immensely selfish and immature person.

 

Depends how it's ingested. A pipe on a frequent basis is maybe not awesome. A vape or water-based device is perhaps less of an issue. If I were to have ever engaged in such activities, I would have found that it had a surprisingly insignificant effect on my cardio. Allegedly.

Outside of ingestion, however, there are studies linking marijuana use to reduced memory, paranoia, depression and anxiety.

 

Of course, as Elf pointed out, there are benefits to the drug particularly as a pain killer and for people who suffer from chronic seizures.

 

I just bring all this to illustrate how complicated it all is. I imagine universities would still prohibit players from using marijuana even if it were legalized, sans perhaps a doctor's prescription for a specific use.

[okaive]

I understand the concept "It's their bodies, let them do what they want" concept, but to just as in the military, if the University is paying them (scholarships), it's technically the Universities body. They are the ones paying for Food, Housing, Training, etc., so they are the ones risking everything allowing the body to do what it wants.

 

If the player doesn't like that type of rule, they can always give up that scholarship and go smoke all they want.

[teachercd]

What is the "rule" for the "regular student" at UNL...anyone know?

 

If Johnny Blaze gets busted in the dorms for pot, what happens?

 

If some Regents Scholarship kid gets busted for pot, what happens?

[Bowfin]

I deal with chronic pain from multiple sources

 

Same here. I take a couple of ibuprofen.

 

Randy Gregory toked away somewhere around half a million dollars and ended up on a sh!tty Dallas team because he dropped in the draft. But hey, who am I to say it wasn't worth it for him?

[Elf]

Edibles are the way to go if you're an athlete.

The problem with edibles is you never know which strain they used to make the edibles. Cannabis plants/strains are not all equal.

 

Why is this a problem? The dispensary I visit has strains of Cannabis with THC levels as low as 14% and as high as 25%. Which one is in your brownie? How much of that brownie should you eat at one time? The strain used could be a heavy Indica that turns you into a couch potato or it could be a mild Sativa that is perfect for daytime use, but how do you know? The answer to all these questions is, you just don't know.

 

If you're like me, vaping/smoking allows you to more accurately medicate with strains that actually help me, like Cindy White or Blue Dream.