Pubdate: Wed, 16 Apr 2003
Source: Daily Barometer (OR Edu)
Copyright: 2003, The Daily Barometer
Contact:  http://barometer.orst.edu/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1222
Author: Alex Close

ATHLETES AND INTOXICANTS

The Portland Trail Blazers have raised an interesting issue for the city of 
Portland and sports fans everywhere. When you're speeding down I-5 in a 
bright yellow hummer smoking a blunt, people are going to notice you, 
especially the police.

Are they supposed to just automatically know that the driver is a prominent 
athletic star?

Even if they did, are prominent athletes above the law?

Are they allowed to drive under the influence?

Of course not.

Perhaps we are pointing our fingers at the wrong thing. It seems that every 
problem has many solutions. However, one of them is usually better than the 
rest. The trick to finding the best solution is asking the right question.

What we need to understand in the drug situation, that seems to plague 
athletics, is how the problem is going to be realistically resolved.

First of all, we must separate the different kinds of drug use associated 
with athletics. Performance enhancing drugs like steroids, ephedra and 
creatine cannot be tolerated. This is simply because to maintain a fair 
playing field, athletes must be held to some regulatory standards for 
competition.

The issue here are those popular, more commonly used street drugs. These 
include marijuana, cocaine and alcohol. Athletes cannot get by in their 
profession doing many other drugs than these. Besides, these three are 
probably the most popular illegal drugs out there, which is why they may 
seem to be the most common athletic infractions.

Examples of athletes who use drugs can be found in any and every 
professional sport.

Look at former Oregon State University football coach Dennis Erickson. He 
had multiple bouts with alcohol abuse.

The Portland "Jail" Blazers are another good example. Although this one 
should be elaborated to include an astounding number of professional 
basketball players. I don't know the exact statistics, but there are a lot 
of players in the NBA who use marijuana on a regular basis. Famous 
Argentine soccer star Diego Maradona habitually used cocaine and ephedra 
for most of his career.

It is unarguable that the fault lies with the athletes. They are the ones 
snorting, toking and pounding. However, professional athletes don't care 
about the rules. In a way they are above them. With the gargantuan salaries 
that professional athletes are paid, simple fines are not really a concern.

Let's, once again, look towards Portland's own pro team. The current fine 
in Oregon for possession of less than an ounce of marijuana is about $150. 
To a professional athlete, this really isn't that big of a deal. Damon 
Stoudamire and Rasheed Wallace will have no problems paying those fines.

An argument could be made that the league should punish these infractions 
more than they do. Even then, who loses more money?

If the NBA suspended and fined every player testing positive for marijuana 
right now, there would be no games. The drug is just too popular.

It seems that during the prohibition this country has found itself in, the 
problem is the rules, not the people breaking them.

People always say, if you can't beat them join them. That is not a very 
good solution to any problem. However, if they just won't stop, and they're 
really not causing all that much trouble anyway, why fight it?

In the end, it is the players, and players only, who can stop this 
behavior. Anyone who knows anything about drug abuse knows that no one can 
make a user quit. They have to want to stop. It's fairly obvious however, 
that these athletes don't care about that.

They know they're not being good role models and they don't really care.

Whose fault is that?

Of course, it's the athlete's fault.

Although, perhaps they do at least know what they're doing.

As role models, what are these pro athletes trying to say?

Maybe they think they are making a political statement that the rules need 
some rethinking.

We all know the meathead jock stereotype. Back in school the hardest 
partyers were often athletes. These guys could party and then sweat it all 
out the next day.

Well those habits sure aren't going to just disappear when these people 
turn pro. They're going to keep on going, even more enabled now by high 
salaries. Perhaps it's time we as a society look at the battles we are 
fighting and analyze which ones are worthwhile and which ones are a flat 
out waste of time.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens