Editor's Note: You can always count on The Atlantic to be bold and … well … right. And it's not only the NFL that is going to have to change its stance on MJ. Medical marijuana usage alone calls for the NFL to revisit its policies entirely, but there's another little organization called the Federal Government that is going to have to change MJ's Schedule 1 drug classification, which is for drugs with no known medical use. I think we're a bit beyond that at this point.
When it comes to pot, the league's usual anti-drug arguments don't hold–and are harming players instead of protecting them.
The National Football League is about to lighten up on pot. To a point.
According to reports, the league and its players have agreed in principle to liberalize the NFL’s marijuana policy, which for years has existed somewhere between “Reefer Madness” and a 1980s winners-don’t-do-drugs public service announcement. Under the new rules, players still will be screened and punished for using marijuana, which remains a designated “substance of abuse,” akin to cocaine. However, pot-induced suspensions and banishments will require a higher number of failed tests than other substances, and the threshold for a positive marijuana test–how much of the drug needs to be in a player’s urine to trigger a red flag–will more than double, though remain lower than thresholds used by Major League Baseball and the World Anti-Doping Association.
