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On Friday, New York Knicks shooting guard JR Smith was suspended by the NBA for five games after violating the league's anti-drug program.
Now, there's been an alleged history behind Smith with marijuana. It would be no surprise if the five-game suspension was because of this, and according to many reports, it most likely is. Clearly, Smith, 27, was on the wrong pipe.
However, based on just this NBA offseason alone, we've seen a growing problem with drugs among players in the league. We've seen many tout the statistics that a good portion of the league's players do something whether it's smoking the reefer or drinking sizzurp.
Overall, the NBA's drug policy is a complete joke. As caught from Black Sports Online, it states: "Based on reasonable cause all players are subject to random testing during pre-season with rookies tested three times on a random basis throughout the season."
Basically, the players get a free pass for doing whatever the hell they want. It's no wonder we see Michael Beasley continuously getting caught, among others such as Brandon Rush and what not. Sadly, it looks like this can only continue.
And that's not all.
Apparently, the policy is so bad, players are literally just mocking the whole system. Anonymous NBA sources tell TMZ that marijuana is a huge factor into the drug pool among the players. Adding to it, many can smell signs of the marijuana in the hotel rooms where the players stay at.
Hard drugs are also involved, which includes sizzurp (or lean), molly and ecstasy. In fact, former and anonymous NBA players estimate that about 30 percent are involved in those kind of drugs. One player adds that lean is the drug of choice among many of the players.
A few years ago, former Dallas Mavericks swingman Josh Howard was caught for smoking weed. Howard later made a confession on the behalf of the majority of pothead NBA players, saying in a controversial ESPN radio interview with Michael Irvin that many players smoke marijuana:
Now, of course, we have seen a lot of this happen in the NFL, but the idea of the potheads all in that league than in the NBA is a wide margin -- well, at least the margin of ones getting caught and continuously getting suspended. I mean, seriously, how many times have we seen these guys get suspended multiple times for drugs but still come back?
Ricky Williams might be one of the only dudes who could keep up his weed habit during the season, as one former teammate claims the Miami Dolphins running back smoked the night before games. Even then, he still missed out on about three years of playing time thanks to his smoking deal. NBA players, they only miss about what, 5-10 games in total?
The drug issue in the NBA is a complete joke, and something should be done.
If the NBA just got stricter with the drug policy, more players would get caught. You know what that means? More NBA players will just stop doing it. Well, at least for the season. The league needs more drug tests during the season and the offseason then.
Listen, I have no problem with people smoking marijuana. I am in favor of it being legalized, actually (mind you, I am not a smoker). However, most of society knows that smoking a ton of it will cause harm. Like, my goodness, look at how Michael Beasley's career has shaped out so far.
If the NBA really didn't care, why even allow the policy in the first place? They might as well just get rid of it all together and let the players play, because they will still perform, right?
The league should do something about it, because Smith isn't going to be the last guy getting suspended for things like this. If that's not enough, just look at how great Lamar Odom's life is going so far. Yeah, that's swell.
The NBA should enforce more rules into the drug policy and bring in more tests. It's just simple math, as aforementioned. More drug tests plus more players getting caught equals less players doing drugs. It's just that easy and simple.
If David Stern doesn't enforce it, let's hope Adam Silver does. Because as of right now, it looks like this is going too far.
As a matter of fact, it might just be an epidemic in the NBA.
