by sussexpob » Mon Apr 29, 2019 4:51 pm
Its the idea that recreational drug taking leads to substance abuse, which sporting boards and clubs obviously dont want for their assets. But these sorts of policies are always written by people very detached from reality; lets take a bad case scenario and say Hales has taken cocaine, and not something milder. You get two groups using the drug in vastly different habits. Cocaine substance abuse is prevalent only really in people who find it through abuse of other gateway drugs, and that abuse is more almost exclusively linked to forms of mental illness or environment factors that aggravate it. The second group are people who just take it after a few drinks so they can have a good night, and these people hardly factor in figures on an abusive scale.
The first group, the problem one, you can test for and try and stop it, but its likely that their abuse has any bearing on their ability to engage in professional sports. They are already arguably in an unfit state of mind, and by statistical definitions are about 100 times more likely to be abusive drinkers, 100 times more likely to be smoking excessively, 100 times more likely to already be using other drugs in combination. So you bust someone like this for cocaine, its hardly going to matter..... they are probably already deeply in a spiral of abuse or depression that limits their use in professional sport.
Its been a big thing in the NFL recently with medical THC. People started to fail drugs tests all over, but when you get down to the nitty gritty, these are a mix of people passed a joint at a house party who have habits that are hardly worth bothering with, both on a social and health point of view when considering a parallel to the perfectly acceptable post match p*ss up (in fact, they create far less issues from all perspectives)..... or they are people who are in deep physical or physiological pain living with the pressures of the sport. Its been proven if these people dont smoke the odd joint, they turn to abuse of harsher drugs, or become addicted to prescription meds.
The policy is improving there, because now they have a three strikes and your out style of thing, but inside those three strikes each player follows a course that tackles the issues in hand.... if there is no issue, the final judgement about suspension is often swept under the carpet. People only really get banned for taking things of a more powerful nature, and only as and when they have been through a lot of physiological treatment.
Josh Gordon, of the New England Patriots for instance, is currently indefinitely banned, but the player himself has acknowledged that his drugs use puts him in a position that makes his participation unsafe (his been busted numerous times for class A drugs, and says hes played under the influence, which puts everyone in danger)...... I think the general consensus is, once he gets clean through the programmes presented to him through help and guidance, he will have the ban lifted.
PEDs are different, but for recreational it seems bans are only used to protect the safety of the individual and those around him. This seems sensible.
Without any evidence of abusive patterns, there is no justification for banning players. If anything, doing so puts these people in great risk categories should they subsequently have to deal with more harsh issues that mix with access, willingness, and tendency to use drugs.
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