Weed Policies
So this story didn’t seem widely reported, Daryl Washington of Arizona plead guilty to beating up his baby momma. He’s a horrible person. But thankfully, he’s suspended for a year!
…for weed. Not for choking out his baby momma.
His punishment for the domestic abuse will come, probably in 2015, but how much do you want to bet it’s something like 4 games.
So Daryl is suspended for a year due to weed, Will Hill is suspended for 6 games due to weed, and Josh Gordon is out for the year due to weed. First off, it must be said, these are multiple offenders. None of these players only did it once, and a large amount of blame should absolutely be laid at their feet. This is their job, the NFL can have whatever regulations it wants to and the players must abide by it, and they shouldn’t risk their careers to smoke some pot. How hard can it be to just not smoke it?
But that doesn’t change the fact that it seems odd to see players getting policed so hard on a drug that is well on it’s way to being legal while getting comparatively smaller punishments for doing far worse things. I’m no big proponent of weed. I don’t smoke it, never found it all that special, it’s not for me. I couldn’t be bothered if it gets legalized or not, honestly. In fact I get really annoyed by “weed culture” people. 420 blaze it type people annoy the hell out of me. But the drug itself doesn’t bother me much. It’s well on it’s way to being socially accepted and legalized, the NFL should probably sit down and analyze their weed rules by now. Especially since it is actually used as medication for people in pain and many players might be using it as such. You can keep it illegal, but the restrictions should get eased up on and I shouldn’t see players getting punished harder for weed than they get for DOMESTIC ABUSE. It just feels dumb.
The ironic thing is that one of the things that medical marijuana is prescribed for is head trauma and its symptoms. You know, one of the big things that has the league in hot water. (I don’t smoke nor do I intend to, but I do support its legalization because there are some genuine medical uses)
Also, as long as Ray Rice has been mentioned, whoever wrote his press conference should be fired. Between his lawyer and his PR person, I guarantee you someone else wrote out his statement for him, and anyone dumb enough to use an analogy about getting knocked down in a domestic violence apology – not to mention not apologizing to the assaulted party – does not deserve their paycheck.
Drugs are bad, mmmkay?
If only the justice system wasn’t such a joke, the NFL wouldn’t have to overly police themselves so much. No way smoking weed is worse than domestic violence.
I think it’s mostly an image thing that the shield is trying to protect. Football players are required to be violent on the field, if they slip in real life, it’s deemed “understandable.” Smoking weed only portrays negative, mainstream stereotypes.
I support marijuana legalization because there ARE genuine medical needs for it and yes, these players might be using pot to ease injury symptoms. That said, although it’s a banned substance in true NFL, it’s definitely not worse than steroids.
And domestic violence/violence towards women in general, I can come up with a long list of NFL players who respect their spouses by you know, not knocking them fifty shades of black and blue. Being violent out there on the field should not be used as an excuse in real life. I have that disconnect between my work, my college and my home, as do most NFL players, there’s no reason the other NFL players can’t either. Unless they’re just violent people in general and joined the NFL to hurt people.
I don’t think the violence on the field is used as an excuse to merit their behavior off the field, it simply explains it-not all seem to be able to adjust from on-field to off-field seemlessly. Troy Polamalu is a perfect example of a player having the “on/off” switch.
Some players are just plain idiots though. Aldon Smith gets a pass by the Niners for being a moron because he’s one of the best pass-rushers in the league. Teams will protect their assets, look at how many times Pittsburgh allowed Big Ben to get away with crap.
These guys are rich, coddled people who feel invincible and can get away with anything short of killing people: Rae Carruth, Aaron Hernandez, OJ almost.
That’s what I mean, some players (a very small minority) use the fact that they have a violent job, but most can turn the violence off when they’re not on the field.
And yeah, I agree with the players you mentioned. Especially Aldon Smith and his recent antics…
The NFL has their justice system way out of whack. He should’ve been suspended over the domestic abuse charges, not the drug use.
You also kinda have to remember, with the drug use, pretty much anyone on the Denver Broncos is (unfortunately, because drugs are bad) legally allowed to smoke weed, cuz it’s legal in Colorado, so Washington’s getting suspended for something that Peyton Manning could (logically, but not probable) do and not get in trouble.
That doesn’t mean they escape the substance abuse policy, though.
Bottom Line: He should’ve been suspended for the Domestic Abuse, not smoking weed, the NFL needs to fix their justice system, and drugs are bad.
Also, that Ray Rice elevator reference was hilarious. So was the hovertext.
The most ironic thing is that if he’d been smoking earlier that day, there’s a solid chance he never would have choked her out.
Can’t find Sexy Rexy. Where is it?!?! WHERE IS IT?!?!??!?
Check the elevator floor indicator in Roger Badell’s office.
The verdict on Gordon isn’t official yet, but I have slim hope it will be any less than one year. I think Shanny’s offense will be fine w/o him tho…
The verdict will be decided during the factory of sadness’ next shift. Any day now
NOT THE REEFER!
The Ginger Hammer strikes again
Aren’t punishments explicitly outlined in the CBA? You can’t expect the League to punish them in some other way than was agreed upon.
This is brutal. (and great)