Should marijuana be legalized across all sports?

by Daniel Tran

Miami Heat guard Dion Waiters was given a 10-game suspension after ingesting too many edibles on a team flight. However, marijuana has been legalized for recreational use in multiple states. For many, it curbs anxiety and dulls pain without the addictive side effect, making it a perfect drug to be utilized in sports medicine. Still, marijuana is illegal on the federal level. With so many children looking up to sports figures, it would be irresponsible to show them illegal substances are acceptable. What do you think?

Dion Waiters was punished for ingesting edibles on a team flight, but why is that such a problem? He's not on the court high or anything!

Chris Simms lays out the case for allowing players to smoke in this video. He argues marijuana is a safer way to treat pain compared to the opiates the league already uses.

Some players use marijuana to treat debilitating conditions like Crohn’s disease—and it is extremely unfair to penalize them for that. Simms argues smoking marijuana is essentially the equivalent of drinking a beer after coming home from work. It is not something that should be penalized.

Athletes are generally under a lot of pressure. One false move and they can lose everything: glory, money, and popularity. That kind of pressure can paralyze some people from attaining their dreams or providing for their family at the level they should. Marijuana can help with that.

There are certain cannabis items that reduce anxiety without the psychedelic effect. That means athletes can perform free of worry and still play at the highest level. Time will tell whether or not marijuana is considered a performance-enhancing drug, but as of now, it can help a lot of athletes get over anxiety.

If you look at U.S. laws, marijuana is still illegal—and prohibited for a reason. Medicinal marijuana does have a host of benefits, but can organizations really trust the athletes to stay disciplined when using it? Owners and front office executives invest a lot of money to get players they can depend on. Much like any other drug, overusing marijuana causes a lot of problems.

Marijuana can help with a lot of things, but it still doesn't help those with addictive tendencies. If a player smokes weed, they may quickly get into other harder drugs. It's a steep slope that can spiral out of control. Allowing marijuana into the league would make athletes test their boundaries with what else they can do.

Drugs are illegal because they hurt the people who take them, and their loved ones. As long as marijuana is still illegal, no professional sports league should allow its players to take it, even for medicinal purposes.

According to Lifezette:

Adults and adult players talking about their marijuana smoking and promoting it as medical is incredibly irresponsible given that these guys are role models for young people,” Dr. Kevin Sabet, co-founder of the nonprofit group Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM), told LifeZette. Sabet is also an assistant professor of psychiatry and director of the Drug Policy Institute at the University of Florida. And now, at a time when marijuana has reached record potencies and it’s being delivered in things like candies and sodas and ice cream, particularly to get young people addicted, the last thing we need are our sports players talking about how this has been good for them,” Sabet told LifeZette.
