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(Bloomberg) There are 100 stadiums in the U.S. that schedule 5,000 games each year attended by more than 130 million fans, according to a report today in the journal Alcoholism. The New Meadowlands stadium, where the New York Giants football team plays, has a capacity of 82,500. If this study holds, about 6,600 people, or 8 percent, leave drunk after watching a game.

The research, which involved giving breath tests to 362 attendees of 13 baseball and 3 football games, also found that 40 percent had been drinking, according to the report in the journal. Fans younger than age 35 were 9 times likelier to be above the legal limit. The use of alcohol by sports spectators is understudied, the researchers said.

There are more alcohol-related car crashes after sports games than before or during the same time on nongame days, a previous study by Canadian researchers found. Those who attended tailgate parties had a 14 times greater risk of being inebriated than those who hadn’t attended a party. Almost 1 in 4 people who tailgated reported consuming five or more drinks while tailgating, the study found.

Fans who attended night games had higher odds of having a mid-range blood alcohol content, one that wasn’t above the legal limit, than those attending day games, the researchers said. Those who attended Monday night football games were more than four times as likely to have a mid-range blood alcohol content as fans going to other games, according to the study.

This is why I’m never frightened by the “What About the Stoned Drivers?!?” scaremongering line the  prohibitionists use when we suggest cannabis legalization.  If they are driving stoned, they are performing about as well as a driver with a 0.05 BAC, which sounds like how buzzed many of these sports fans are when leaving the stadium (worse if they’re forced to watch the Bears play… ), which is also a level below what’s considered too impaired to drive.

The prohibitionist will respond, “Yes, we have terrible problems with drunk driving… so why would we want to have another legal drug and add stoned drivers to the mix?”  Well, if anyone is driving stoned, they’re driving stoned now.  Prohibitionists always seem to think that when we legalize cannabis, suddenly there will be cannabis use! No, cannabis is already here, it’s already the third most popular substance, it is already used by 25 million Americans per year.  The only question is whether we regulate age limits, driving limits, use limits, and sales limits, or do we continue the criminal free-for-all the currently exists?

Besides, it doesn’t appear that prohibitionists are really that concerned with the impaired driving issue when it comes to alcohol.  Eight percent of fans drive drunk?  Cancel beer sales at games.  Ban alcohol at tailgating parties in the parking lots.  Require breathalyzer checks to enter the stadium.  Sound extreme?  It is, but it’s no more extreme than locking people up and wrecking their lives to prevent stoned driving.

We accept the fact that 11,773 died in 2008 because of crashes with drivers whose BAC was above 0.08.  We have hundreds of thousands of taverns, thousands of restaurants and nightclubs, and hundreds of sports stadiums where people are expected to drive, park, drink, party, and drive home.  We educate people about BAC, we encourage designated drivers, taxis, and public transport for drinkers, yet we all know plenty of people are driving after “one too many”.  But we accept it because in a free society, we allow the vast majority of responsible adult beer, wine, and spirits drinkers to enjoy themselves and we accept the risk of 10,000 or more deaths for that freedom.

CSAC POSITION ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA

The California State Athletic Commission’s position is that Marijuana is a banned substance pursuant to Rule 303 and that any positive drug test may result in discipline.

The California Supreme Court has weighed in on “Medical Marijuana” in the employment context and has found that an employer may discipline an employee for off-duty medical marijuana use. The court found that the Compassionate Use Act did not legalize marijuana use per se, but merely provided a defense to criminal charges under particular circumstances. The Court acknowledged that marijuana still had a potential for abuse and that employers continued to have a legitimate interest in whether an employee uses the drug. The Court declined to extend the protections of the Compassionate Use Act any further than the plain language of the Act and into the employer-employee relationship.

Although the question springs from professional licensing rather than employment, much of the Court’s rationale applies. Because the Compassionate Use Act only provides a defense to criminal charges, any argument that the Act would allow an athlete to use the drug without consequences to his or her license must fail. If the Court were to take up a similar challenge to discipline of a licensee, it would likely find that the Commission has a legitimate interest in whether or not an athlete uses the drug because marijuana could slow a fighter’s reflexes and endanger his or her health and safety in the ring or the cage.

Therefore, given the limited reach of the Compassionate Use Act and the rationale of the Supreme Court in Ross v. RagingWire Telcomm, the Commission may safely discipline an athlete without running afoul of any law or court decision.

We’ve been following the cases of Nick Diaz and especially Toby “TigerHeart” Grear as they’ve battled the CSAC for the right to be able to use their medicine and continue to fight.  The irony is that these MMA fighters could use all sorts of painkillers and anti-inflammatories to deal with the rigors of training and face no sanction, but those drugs are more harmful to their health.  Marijuana continues to suffer because its metabolites are stored in the body and released over a long period of time.  Isn’t that something?  Our bodies will expel the toxic residues of alcohol and most drugs within two days, process and eliminate the liquids we drink and solids we eat within hours, and exhale the air we breathe every minute, but our bodies will hold on to cannabinoids for weeks.

I find it hilarious that the CSAC even attempts to rationalize its decision.  The fact is that the law allows them to discriminate, so they will.  But to say that “marijuana could slow a fighter’s reflexes and endanger his or her health and safety in the ring or the cage” is an insult to the fighters.  Do you really think Nick or Toby or Diego are stepping into a fight having just hit a gravity bong?  This rationale assumes these well-trained athletes are going to purposefully take a substance that diminished their performance, which in this sport means “having your face turned to hamburger by some dude’s elbows before he flips you on the back and chokes you unconscious or breaks your elbow backwards.”

I could give them a tad more respect (as in a raise from 0 to 0.1 on a scale of 1-10) if they had made the performance-enhancing arguments put forth on the ESPN blog coverage of the story:

(The hypotheticals: that marijuana’s soothing effect on chronic pain could help mitigate any nagging injuries suffered in training; that its calming effect could make someone less irritated or concerned by their physical fatigue; that it could make an athlete capable of tolerating more trauma in a bout; and inversely, that their reflexes or reaction time could result in serious injury during a bout.)

Jazz musicians often talk about how marijuana changes their perception of time, how it makes them be able to feel syncopation and grace notes that just don’t compute when straight.  I know many a computer coder who tells of solving intricate logic problems through a flash of insight seen only when high.  I imagine there must be some similar experience in professional fighting.

This is a combat sport, right?  Let’s settle it in the cage!  Next season of Ultimate Fighter, have one team that’s all medical marijuana patients and one team that is not, and let’s see who wins.

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.

via Dr. Johnny C. Benjamin: Steroids are Just the Tip of the Iceberg in Professional Sports.

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.

Yeah, I think I could use a bong hit after a day of work like this, don't you? (Nick Diaz - Pro Elite Photo)

For mainstream sports fans thirsting for an athlete to come completely clean about taboo subjects in sports, here’s an introduction to mixed martial arts fighter Nick Diaz, who not only speaks openly but is willing to answer follow-up questions.

“I’m more consistent about everything being a cannabis user,” Diaz said in an interview with The Times last week. “I’m happy to get loaded, hear some good music . . . I remain consistent. And I have an easy way to deal with [the drug tests].

“I can pass a drug test in eight days with herbal cleansers. I drink 10 pounds of water and sweat out 10 pounds of water every day. I’ll be fine.”

…Unfortunately for Diaz, state athletic commissions also ban marijuana use, and he tested positive for the illegal drug in Las Vegas after his impressive win over Japan’s Takanori Gomi in early 2007. A state athletic commissioner in Nevada argued Diaz was numb to pain because of excessive marijuana in his system. Diaz’s victory was vacated; he was fined and suspended for six months.

“The drug is banned because of the damage it does to the person taking it,” said Keith Kizer, Nevada State Athletic Commission executive officer. “It could make you lethargic, slow your reflexes, and those are dangerous things in a combat sport.”

Well, I’m sure Nick isn’t firing up the RooR right before entering the cage!  Yeah, Keith, I’d agree, that sounds like a horrible idea.  But let’s say you’re not completely reefer mad and somehow, regular pot smoking slows a fighter’s reflexes.  How, then, did 25-year-old Nick rack up an 18-7 record?  Is he just so lightning quick that even firing at below 100% he’s less lethargic than eighteen other presumably well-trained non-pot-smoking fighters trying to bash his face in?

The California State Athletic Commission said Diaz would undergo drug testing before and after Saturday’s fight.

Diaz, however, argues marijuana eases problems he has battled since childhood when, he says, he was diagnosed with attention deficit disorder and prescribed mood-altering medication. His rebellion as a youth forced him to relocate to schools where he continually felt out of place and he ultimately became a high school dropout.

…In Nick’s first post-UFC fight, he tested positive for marijuana. He suspects someone tipped off authorities. “I got high in my [hotel] room the night before every [UFC] fight,” Diaz said. But Kizer said Diaz was merely among 10 of 16 PRIDE Fighting Championships athletes who were tested that night.

Said Shamrock of Diaz: “He definitely smokes marijuana. That’s his own business, but it’s not the greatest thing for the sport. We’re fighting a stigma. Still, there’s something refreshing about his honesty.”

via – The Los Angeles Times “MMA fighter Nick Diaz says smoking marijuana is part of his plan“

Why is it not the greatest thing for mixed martial arts?  You have guys like Sean “Muscle Shark” Sherk testing positive for steroids – who coulda seen that one comin’, huh? – and Karo “Corn Syrup”* Parisiyan loaded up on pharmaceutical painkillers, quite a performance-enhancing drug in a sport where you lose when the pain of a joint lock becomes unbearable and you tap out.  From what I read, Nick probably needs a couple more bong hits at the hospital so he mellows out and doesn’t get into brawls with opponents.

I’ve never understood big pro sports’ love for the finest medical technologies in surgery, protective gear, painkilling, hydration, and nutrition, yet the total disdain for cannabis (yeah, I know, “pot’s illegal”, “drugs’r'bad mmmkay”, and “what about the children?!?”, aside from that).  If you are an NBA superstar with a nine-figure contract, are you really going to consistently smoke an herb that slows your crossover dribble and hinders your shot?  If you are an NFL lineman facing a pass-rushing defensive end who’s 320 lbs and lightning quick, are you going to regularly take bong hits that slows your reaction to the snap count?

Most important: if you’re an MMA fighter facing a Brazilian jiu-jitsu expert who’s going to spend the next five minutes trying to knock you out, choke you unconscious, or break your limbs, are you really going to hot box the dressing room during the undercard?

*Not his real nickname, but I just could not resist.  Apologies to Chris Berman at ESPN.

And so suddenly here’s marijuana — yep, marijuana — hogging itself another heyday, bolting into the spotlight, all but sashaying back into dialogue and shouting, “Hey, I’m still here.”

Shadowed in cycles through recent decades while other legal or illegal or performance-enhancing stimulants took turns getting all the hype, marijuana has just hollered in the case of merely the most-decorated Olympian in history, Michael Phelps. It has tried to yell from the recent past of the Super Bowl most valuable player, who alighted at Disney World only four months after a forgotten arrest.

It has appeared this week in the suitcase of an arrested college basketball point guard at an airport, and this winter in the possession of a former Dallas receiver, and a Seattle linebacker, and a Florida State receiver, and a retired NBA forward/center, and amid a Japanese sumo wrestling scandal if you can believe such, and in November with a New York Jets defensive end, and last spring in that bellwether moment on talk radio, when Dallas Mavericks forward Josh Howard readily said he enjoyed an inhale.

Marijuana? Who knew? Yeah, well, OK, pretty much everybody did.

NORML’s Paul Armentano is quoted in this piece in the Sunday LA Times.

Dear America,

I take it back. I don’t apologize.

Because you know what? It’s none of your goddamned business. I work my ass off 10 months per year. It’s that hard work that gave you all those gooey feelings of patriotism last summer. If during my brief window of down time I want to relax, enjoy myself, and partake of a substance that’s a hell of a lot less bad for me than alcohol, tobacco, or, frankly, most of the prescription drugs most of you are taking, well, you can spare me the lecture.

Go read the whole thing, it’s brilliant, especially the “let’s see you rationalize in your next lame ONDCP commercial how the greatest motherfucking swimmer the world has ever seen . . . is also a proud pot smoker” part.  The comments are pretty good, too, especially this one from Eric Ogunbase:

You know who I feel bad for? Everyone who competed against him in the pool.

“You mean I’ve been training my whole life for these events and I STILL got my ass kicked by a dude who smokes the chronic?!”

Also, my diary at DailyKos could use some comments and recommendations.  Let’s bump this one up!

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.”

via Phelps Apologizes for Marijuana Use – NYTimes.com.

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!

Marijuana Possession Case Against NBA Player Dismissed
A long-running marijuana possession case against NBA player Damon Stoudamire has been dismissed.

Stoudamire’s Tucson lawyer said Friday that all charges have been dismissed with prejudice and cannot be refiled.

The misdemeanor possession case took more than 4½ years to conclude, including two appeals to the Arizona Supreme Court – which ruled there no longer will be jury trials in such cases.

Under a settlement agreement with the Pima County Attorney’s office, Stoudamire successfully completed a drug rehabilitation program and urine tests proving he was drug-free.

Stoudamire – now with the San Antonio Spurs – was arrested in July 2003 going through security at Tucson’s airport when a half-ounce of foil-wrapped marijuana fell from his pants.

Stoudamire was with my hometown Portland Trail Blazers when the airport marijuana incident went down.  I remember not being upset that Damon was caught with weed, but that a college educated stoner couldn’t figure out that aluminum-foil-wrapped marijuana plus airport metal detector isn’t a great idea.

Or remember when Michael Vick was caught with marijuana in the airport while heading home to Atlanta.  He had stashed it in a water bottle, not recalling that in the ridiculous post-9/11 airport security line, you can’t take water with you on the plane.

It also makes you wonder, just how hard is it for superstar millionaire sports figures to get a hold of some chronic?  Is it worth all the hassle and threatening your career for less than an ounce of pot?  I somewhat sympathize with Stoudamire, since he was leaving for a road trip at the time, but Vick was returning home!  Do multimillionaire sports stars not keep a personal stash at home?