Denver -- It was the morning of a 2010 playoff
game, and one of the Nuggets had just smoked some nuggets. As the team
practiced, the player was so high that Rex Chapman, a team executive at
the time, had to pull him aside to get him to focus.
"Across
all walks of life and in every profession, people smoke (marijuana).
This is no secret, and pro sports are not exempt," said Chapman, who
played 12 years in the NBA. "But employers deserve and pay for A-plus
employees. There is a time and place for everything. As a member of a
team, guys owe it to their teammates to put their best foot forward."
Marijuana use has long been a part of
sports' subculture, especially and fittingly in a place nicknamed the
Mile High City. It soon may become part of the mainstream. New laws
taking effect Wednesday in Colorado allow the retail sale of
recreational marijuana.
But as much
as society often mirrors changes in sports culture, to most of the
ruling bodies of sports, weed remains a four-letter word. Fiercely
protective of their image, they don't want athletes openly smoking
marijuana, regardless of what Colorado voters might say. There is
evidence in recent surveys, however, that society's changing views
toward marijuana, specifically widespread acceptance of the medicinal
benefits in alleviating pain, are thawing previous hard-line stances.
Winter
Olympic athletes, for example, are all but given a free pass for
smoking marijuana while out of competition. And the World Anti-Doping
Agency this past May increased the threshold for a positive marijuana
test tenfold. The NHL, meanwhile, alone among the big four North
American professional sports, does not include marijuana among its
banned substances.
Nevertheless, advocates for the use of marijuana know they face an uphill challenge making cannabis legal for athletes.
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