Tuesday, August 4th, 2009 at 5:20 pm | By: Radical Russ
(The Detroit News) Former Michigan State and Lions Charles Rogers talks of getting hooked on prescription pills and admits to a past daily marijuana habit, according to excerpts from an interview for an upcoming segment on ESPN’s “Outside the Lines.”
“Regularly, regularly, yeah I blew every day,” Rogers tells ESPN and former Detroit Free Press reporter Jemele Hill, answering the question how often he smoked marijuana while in the NFL. “But you know, I was doing something wrong. You can’t smoke in the league, so I was wrong.”
Rogers was a two-time All-Big Ten receiver and an All-American in 2002 for the Spartans before the Lions selected him with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2003 NFL Draft.
A much-hyped selection given his local roots and his hefty contract — he signed a six-year, $55 million deal — Rogers, a Saginaw native, caught two touchdown passes in his NFL debut, a 43-24 victory over the Arizona Cardinals on Sept. 7, 2003.
That was the high point of a career that fell hard and fell quickly.
Rogers missed much of his rookie season with a broken collarbone, then suffered a similar injury early in the 2004 season. But the big blow came in 2005, when he was suspended four games for violating the NFL’s substance-abuse policy. He returned from the punishment but was mostly ineffective, with nine catches and one touchdown in the season’s final seven games.
Speaking of that third season, then-Lions president Matt Millen tells ESPN’s Hill: “He was average. Something clearly was wrong. He looked like a different guy.”
Gee, Matt, on your 4-12 2005 team, “average” would have been spectacular, wouldn’t it? (And no, I’m not just bitter because one of those four wins was on opening day against reen Bay.)
I hate the headline and tone of this article, which would have you believing that Charles Rogers is a sad case of a talented athlete whose career was ruined by weed. But think about it for a second. Do we think he just started smoking marijuana when he was drafted by Detroit? I doubt it. Instinct tells me he “blew every day” while he was becoming a two-time All-Big-Ten receiver, All-American, and #2 overall NFL draft pick. Then he suffers a broken collarbone – a very painful injury – twice in his first two years in the league. He uses cannabis, I assume, as part of the pain relief and prescription pills for the rest. Then he’s suspended for “substance abuse”, which has to be the weed, because they won’t suspend you for legit prescriptions. So, again I assume, he has to quit the cannabis, but the pain still remains, so he has to keep using the pills, perhaps more of them since cannabis tends to moderate the need for opioids.
I’m betting the mind fog from prescription pills plus the fear of leaping over the middle for the tough catch and getting pegged in that collarbone by Brian Urlacher twice a year would turn anyone into “a different guy”.
Monday, July 20th, 2009 at 4:20 pm | By: Radical Russ
(WSMV) The toxicology reports for both Steve McNair and Sahel Kazemi indicate that both were intoxicated at the time of the July 4 murder-suicide.
The medical examiner’s office said Kazemi was on drugs when she killed McNair.
The findings of the toxicology report shows Kazemi tested positive for marijuana, a drug known mostly to relax people, but in some cases make them paranoid.
“You would think that marijuana is not the kind of drug that would incite people to violence, but the effects of these drugs are different on different people. Some people can have very paranoid types of responses to even a drug like marijuana,” said chief state medical examiner Dr. Brucy Levy.
The toxicology report also shows that the alcohol levels in the ex-NFL quarterback at the time of his death were more than the legal driving limit.
Oh, puhlease! First of all, McNair may have been “intoxicated” but Kazemi could not be, because marijuana is not an “intoxicant” – it is non-toxic, so by definition, it cannot be an “intoxicant”.
Second, detection of marijuana in Kazemi’s system, unless it was an amount of 5ng/ml or more in the blood, doesn’t prove any sort of impairment from smoking marijuana.
Third, being the struggling-to-make-rent DUI girl-toy of a famous married cheating athlete alleged to be cheating on you as well is more likely to incite you to violence than marijuana.
(Nashville 24/7) Kazemi had become distraught and told friends her life was all messed up and she was going to end it all. Detectives learned she was facing a lot of financial stress…making payments on two cars – her own Kia, and the Cadillac Escalade that McNair gave her as a birthday present. In addition her roommate was moving out, doubling her rent.
Plus she was suspicious that McNair was seeing another woman. Detectives say Kazemi apparently watched another woman leaving the condo several days before the shooting and tried to follow her.
Her arrest for DUI early Thursday morning apparently made things worse. Later that day, Police say Kazemi contacted a person she knew who had a gun for sale. The transaction went down in the Opry Mills Mall parking lot around 5pm Thursday. She bought a 9mm handgun for $100.
As late as Friday night, Kazemi told a co-worker at Dave and Buster’s that she was thinking about ending it all. Inside the condo early Saturday morning, police paint a picture of a sad, desperate and determined young woman who was making good on her vow.
Sexual infidelity is a drug that produces far more violence and paranoia than marijuana.
The responsible cannabis consumer does not operate a motor vehicle or other dangerous machinery while impaired by cannabis, nor (like other responsible citizens) while impaired by any other substance or condition, including some medicines and fatigue.
Although cannabis is said by most experts to be safer than alcohol and many prescription drugs with motorists, responsible cannabis consumers never operate motor vehicles in an impaired condition. Public safety demands not only that impaired drivers be taken off the road, but that objective measures of impairment be developed and used, rather than chemical testing.
MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — Sources said NFL player Donte Stallworth was found to have marijuana in his system as well as alcohol on the morning he struck and killed a pedestrian with his car.
Local 10 sources close to the case said a toxicology report showed Stallworth was not only legally drunk before hitting and killing 59-year-old Mario Reyes, but he also had marijuana in his system.
Sources said the Reyes family knew about the toxicology report and the marijuana before signing off on Stallworth’s plea deal. Under the deal, Stallworth pleaded guilty to DUI manslaughter charges and was sentenced to 30 days in prison. He also paid an undisclosed settlement to the family of the victim.
Local 10 also has learned that there is surveillance video of the March 14 incident on the MacArthur Causeway that showed Reyes illegally crossing the expressway and darting out in front of Stallworth’s car. A court hearing is set for Thursday morning to determine if that videotape can be unsealed and released to the media.
Police said Stallworth’s blood-alcohol level was 0.126 percent after the crash. Florida’s legal limit is 0.08 percent.
According to a statement by his attorney, marijuana was detected in Stallworth’s blood following the crash. NORML’s Deputy Director Paul Armentano gave an excellent presentation in Aspen on the science of blood testing for marijuana; I asked him for a statement on this Stallworth incident (emphasis mine):
THC/blood levels are generally an indicator of recent use in the past few hours, which could infer impairment but go no further than “infer.” However, there’s a small body of research indicating that residual levels of THC may be detected in the blood at low levels (under 2ng/ml, and typically under 1ng/ml) for 48+ hours in some extreme cases. So, some of this would hinge on what the THC/blood levels are. If they are well above 2ng/ml then the chances are this person recently used cannabis, and one could speculate that they may have also been impaired (to some unknown degree) at that time, but at best it’s speculation — hardly anything definitive.
So what we have here is the traditional media hyping the marijuana angle on this tragic death resulting from someone we know for a scientific and legal fact was too impaired by alcohol to be driving (unless Stallworth is such an alcoholic that 0.126 BAC doesn’t impair him; regardless, he’s legally drunk).
Also, we should note that the victim in this case was shown on traffic surveillance to be illegally crossing the expressway and had “darted out” in front of Stallworth’s car when he was hit. It’s not hard to imagine that even a teetotaler driving down that expressway would’ve hit the victim. Yet another reason you shouldn’t smoke and drive: you may be the greatest driver in the world stoned, but that’s not going to stop some drunk from bumping into you, some idiot from slamming on his brakes in front of you, your taillight deciding to burn out at night, or some fool running in front of your car on the MacArthur Causeway at dark-thirty in the morning.
Tuesday, May 19th, 2009 at 11:20 am | By: Radical Russ
The overuse and abuse of narcotic pain medication in professional sports, especially contact sports, is enormous. The use of performance enhancing drugs is minuscule and almost meaningless in comparison.
It is a well-known mantra in the NFL that a player can’t make the team from the training room (nursing an injury instead of producing on the field). Players quickly learn that a cortisone shot will make it feel better in a few days. A percocet or vicodin will make if feel better right now. It is also commonly said that the letters NFL stands for ‘not-for-long’ if a player cannot consistently suit up and produce on the field for whatever reason.
After an average 3-year NFL career, daily pain medication is a way of life for many, if not most players. Players with average length careers (about 3 years) are often the marginal players whom are routinely relegated to the most dangerous duties, special teams. Veteran players with significantly longer tours of duty amass injuries due to length of service on the field of play.
Their career will one day end but the pain commonly does not. Year after year of daily physical abuse leads to substance overuse which in turn can often lead to abuse and dependence. The narcotic habit that developed during a player’s active career often continues far into retirement.
But at least they’re not smoking weed, right? A player like Brett Favre opens up and admits his addiction to powerful narcotic painkillers and the league and the press welcome him with open arms and praise him for his “courageous battle”. A player like Ricky Williams opens up and admits his medical use of marijuana for pain, inflammation, nausea, and social anxiety and the league boots him and the press taunts him as a “pothead”.
There is a reason the average lifespan of an NFL player is 55 years. A lot of it has to do with the physical pounding they take week in week out, and especially for the lineman, the extra weight they carry. But I believe a large reason for the shortened lifespan is the toxic toll all the painkillers, anti-inflammatories, and muscle relaxers dished out by team doctors take on these men’s organs.
Monday, April 27th, 2009 at 12:20 pm | By: Radical Russ
Maybe the Vikings just want to win a Super Bowl?
We are about three years away from knowing who picked well and who picked poorly in the draft over the weekend. But it is not too soon to identify some winners and losers who might have escaped your attention.
Winners: Dope smokers.
The fact that wide receiver Percy Harvin failed a drug test at the combine did not prevent the Vikings from taking him in the first round. The Patriots took another player who reportedly failed the drug test at the combine, wide receiver Brandon Tate, in the third.
And at least three other players who were first-round picks failed drug tests at their respective colleges, according to multiple NFL front-office sources.
One personnel executive said he believes the use of marijuana is so widespread among college players that NFL teams have become numb to failed drug tests. NFL teams, it seems, are only alarmed about marijuana smokers if they are failing drug tests once they are in the league.
Could it be that NFL teams are finally looking into the quality of the player and not the quality of his urine? I’ve heard reports that during the NFL Draft show on ESPN, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones remarked that the league shouldn’t even be testing for marijuana. Maybe since the winning Super Bowl touchdown pass has been caught the past two years by a stoner (PIT Santonio Holmes, NYG Plaxico Burress), the Vikings have a lock on Super Bowl XLIV?
Friday, February 27th, 2009 at 10:04 am | By: Radical Russ
PITTSBURGH – Super Bowl XLIII MVP Santonio Holmes, cited for allegedly having a small amount of marijuana in his vehicle, waived his preliminary hearing Thursday afternoon in Municipal Court downtown.
District Judge Gene Ricciardi scheduled Holmes’ formal arraignment for April 29.
Ricciardi told Holmes “on a personal note” that he “wanted to commend” the Pittsburgh Steelers’ wide receiver for donating the gloves that he wore when he caught the Super Bowl-winning touchdown to a charity auction because “it showed strength of character.”
Find yourself a very nice car and drive to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Make sure to have three loaded blunts in the car and that the car smells of freshly-smoked marijuana.
Get yourself pulled over at the corner of Centre Avenue and Mario Lemieux Place.
When officers notice pot smell, show them your three blunts.
When officers ask if you’re smoking pot in the car, say “No, but yesterday I was.”
Bonus points for the experiment if you’re a 24-year-old African-American male.
Let’s see, three blunts might be about an eighth, depending on how you mix it. Pennsylvania law says that can get you a misdemeanor conviction with a sentence of $500 fine and 30 days in jail. Who wants to bet my hypothetical experimenter would see jail time, but Santonio Holmes will get community service?
It’s not that I think Santonio Holmes or any other celebrity should be harassed for marijuana possession (smoking and driving’s another story for another time), it’s just that I think my hypothetical experimenter shouldn’t be harassed either. When we see two different systems of drug laws – one for the Santonio Holmeses, Al Gore IIIs, and Noelle Bushes, and another for the rest of us without fame, power, or fortune – it underscores the lie that these drug laws are meant to protect us and it undermines respect for all the law.
Sunday, February 1st, 2009 at 12:00 pm | By: Radical Russ
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Olympic great Michael Phelps has acknowledged ”regrettable” behavior and ”bad judgment” after a photo in a British newspaper showed him smoking marijuana.
In a statement released to The Associated Press, the swimmer who won a record eight gold medals at the Beijing Games conceded the authenticity of the exclusive picture published Sunday by the tabloid News of the World.
Phelps said: ”I engaged in behavior which was regrettable and demonstrated bad judgment. I’m 23 years old and despite the successes I’ve had in the pool, I acted in a youthful and inappropriate way, not in a manner people have come to expect from me. For this, I am sorry. I promise my fans and the public it will not happen again.”
Youthful and inappropriate. Childish things, as our president might say. ”It will not happen again.” Not to get all Clintonian on you, Mike, but does “it” refer to “smoking marijuana” or does “it” refer to “photos surfacing in newspapers showing you smoking marijuana”?
I’ll never understand the mindset that accepts as rational the idea that these world class athletes – Michael Phelps, Ricky Williams, Ross Rebagliati, those Russian sumo, etc. - can dedicate their entire lives to eating right, working out, honing their bodies and minds to the pinnacle of their sport, but should they wish to relax and unwind, they’re forced to ingest a hard liquid drug that has noticably deleterious effects on health and athletic ability (Max McGee notwithstanding) rather than a mild herb that doesn’t seem to have affected their abilities whatsoever.
Even more perplexing is the notion that, in the name of “sports medicine”, these athletes are accustomed to taking all manner of narcotic pain killers and other pharmaceutical cocktails that aid performance or mitigate injury, but are addicting (Brett Favre, *cough*,) and wreak havoc on the liver and kidneys, yet if we catch them smoking weed we have to mete out severe punishment (Santonio Holmes, notwithstanding).
As I look at the coverage on Huffington Post (admittedly, a liberal website) almost all comments are “it’s well past time to legalize it” and “so what” and “didn’t hurt Phelps’ performance any”. Oh, an Obama brother pot bust and an eight-time gold medalist bong photo following ten days of growing drumbeat over President Obama’s non-response to the Tahoe Raid… somebody really did get me a swell birthday present!
Thursday, January 29th, 2009 at 1:59 pm | By: Radical Russ
Using tissue from retired NFL athletes culled posthumously, the Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy (CSTE), at the Boston University School of Medicine, is shedding light on what concussions look like in the brain. The findings are stunning. Far from innocuous, invisible injuries, concussions confer tremendous brain damage. That damage has a name: chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
CSTE studies reveal brown tangles flecked throughout the brain tissue of former NFL players who died young — some as early as their 30s or 40s.
McKee, who also studies Alzheimer’s disease, says the tangles closely resemble what might be found in the brain of an 80-year-old with dementia.
The damage affects the parts of the brain that control emotion, rage, hypersexuality, even breathing, and recent studies find that CTE is a progressive disease that eventually kills brain cells.
If you have the talent and choose to do so, you may play NFL football. We know that choice will dramatically increase your chances of concussion. We try to protect you from it with rules about legal hits and a nice hard helmet, but there is no doubt that you will very likely suffer brain damage because of your choice. Your choice to inflict brain damage upon yourself is not without consequences for others – the effects of rage, hypersexuality, and dementia will no doubt affect your family. Aside from the brain damage, there is the wear on the body that leaves many ex-pros walking around in their 40s and 50s like arthritic old men in their 90s.
Friday, December 5th, 2008 at 1:45 pm | By: Radical Russ
N.F.L. Roundup – Rams’ Jackson Expects More Work Against Cardinals – NYTimes.com
Jets defensive end Shaun Ellis was charged last weekend in New Jersey with marijuana possession, speeding and driving without insurance. Ellis, the team’s sack leader, defensive captain and longest-tenured player, will play Sunday at San Francisco, according to a team spokesman.
The incident, first reported Thursday by The Daily Record, occurred near Jets headquarters in Florham Park at 8:37 a.m. last Saturday. Ellis was pulled over after he allegedly passed a police car at high speed on Route 287 South while exiting onto Route 24.
In a statement released by the Jets, Ellis noted that the events constituted a pending legal matter, but added that he understood he must be responsible for his actions.
“I apologize to my family, the fans and the organization,” he said. “As a captain, I set a poor and selfish example for my teammates as well as all N.F.L. players.”
Ellis, a Pro Bowl selection in 2003, could be suspended under the league’s personal conduct policy, but that process can take time. The Jets (8-4) did not say if they would discipline Ellis, who has seven sacks.
Yes, Shaun Ellis, the poor and selfish example you set by speeding and driving without insurance are definitely worth apologizing for. As for the marijuana possession… well, I’ve heard all the arguments about it being illegal, and regardless of whether it should be illegal, sports stars should set a good example by not being criminals, yada yada yada. I would just note that in nine years in the NFL, Shaun Ellis has gone to the Pro Bowl and he currently leads his team in sacks. The marijuana does not seem to be adversely affecting his performance…
RevRayGreen: MASS TWEET THIS -@ChuckGrassley Truth is Chuck you follow Nixon's CSA full of reefer sadness. btw Chuck, Marijuana is not a drug.
RevRayGreen: @ChuckGrassley http://bit.ly/55Ejsi Truth is Chuck you follow Nixon's CSA full of reefer madness. btw Chuck, Marijuana is not a drug.
SneakerPimp: one last thing Puff puff pass to any one who wants it
SneakerPimp: i wanna here about the imminent MiniSpof sounds like time for some
SneakerPimp: im estatic and excited for NSL today.
SneakerPimp: mountain time wake n bake
SneakerPimp: oh yea also wake n bake
SneakerPimp: its central im high as a kite everybody
SneakerPimp: ill grab that WUD
WakeUpDead: @Russ, I dont think that wireless is going to work out for the show, it was choppy and studdered just like last week. Hardline may be the only way. Puff [...]
WakeUpDead: A MINI Spof, Lock up your Weed, in 18 years that is. Really Man congrats! Greatest days of my life when my kids were born, hell yeh, great news [...]
BenJaMin: Late night Stash!!!
SneakerPimp: heres a bong rip for spof
RevRayGreen: errr test over....
RevRayGreen: on hold..
RevRayGreen: @RR I'll try and lob a call to you.....
SneakerPimp: where is the first field of cannabis gonna be?
SneakerPimp: !
Radical Russ: Breaking News: MrSpof's wife's water just broke! A MiniSpof is imminent!
SneakerPimp: oh russ its not my fault that i dont understand choppy word:stoned:
SneakerPimp: @Mrspof congratulations tell us all about it tommrow
Radical Russ: OK, test over. Sorry. Only needed a half hour. Be back tomorrow afternoon.
slash5city: don't forget to watch CCS live on u-stream 8 pm west
thaistik: Local Crime Stoppers notice.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Pot shop burglars sought
Crime Stoppers is looking for information on the suspects who police say burglarized a medical marijuana dispensary and stole cash, drugs [...]
Marijuana-Related Health Costs Minimal Compared To Those Of Alcohol, Tobacco; California Medical Association Says Pot Prohibition Is A "Failed Public Health Policy"; Oregon: State NORML Affiliate Opens First 'Cannabis Café'. […]
American Medical Association Calls For Scientific Review Of Marijuana's Prohibitive Status; Dutch Marijuana Use Lower Than European Average, Study Says […]
"Truth In Trials Act" Reintroduced In Congress; Maine: Voters Approve Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Measure; Colorado: Breckenridge Voters Overwhelmingly Decide To End Pot Penalties. […]
Some of the nation’s top athletes discuss why today's pros are turning to cannabis — and away from alcohol and painkillers — off the field, and question why pro sports leagues are continuing to sanction those who do. Moderator: Steve Bloom, Author, Pot Culture; editor, celebstoner.com * Toby Grear, MMA fighter * Sean Neumann, Documentary Filmm […]
Cannabis Law Reform's Missing Link: Law Enforcement Former Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper; LEAP and NORML Advisory Board; Author of Breaking Rank Putting the Mexican Cartels Out of Business Mexican drug cartels now employ over 100,000 soldiers and are responsible for nearly ten thousand deaths per year. Their largest source of income is marijuana. […]
Former Detroit WR: “I [smoked marijuana] every day”
reen Bay.)
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sounds like time for some 
mountain time wake n bake 
don't forget to watch CCS live on u-stream 8 pm west 
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