(Ohmidog) Three-time Iditarod champion Lance Mackey may have to mush without marijuana in next year’s race.
Iditarod Trail Committee officials have announced plans to test mushers for drugs and alcohol in March. Officials haven’t decided who will get tested, or when, where and how it will be done. “It might be random. It might be a group of mushers at a specific checkpoint,” said Stan Hooley, executive director of the committee.
Alaska law allows for personal possession of up to one ounce of marijuana, provided the use occurs at home. In addition, Mackey, as a throat cancer survivor, has a medical marijuana card that entitles him to use the drug legally for medical purposes.
Mackey admits marijuana has helped him stay awake and focused through the 1,100-mile race, but he insists it doesn’t give him an edge.
“It isn’t the reason I’ve won three years in a row,” Mackey told the Anchorage Daily News. ”I think it’s a little bit ridiculous,” he said of the new policy. ”It is a dog race, not a human race. It doesn’t affect the outcome of the race.”
Now wait just a minute, Mr. Mackey! It is vitally important that we insure that the 175lb human dead weight being towed by these dogs isn’t impaired by marijuana. What kind of message do you want to send to the puppies? You want the little Husky puppies thinking that it’s OK to drag a stoned human across barren ice and snow, in the wind and subzero temperatures, for a distance equal to Milwaukee to Tampa? Think about the puppies! My God, what about the puppies?!?
What valid reason could there be for drug testing a dog sled musher for pot, aside from a moral angle? Marijuana use isn’t putting the athlete at risk of injury, like they’d argue for mixed martial arts. Marijuana use isn’t giving the athlete an unfair advantage, like they might argue for the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest. Marijuana isn’t even a factor for creativity, like they might argue for dancers, or fearlessness, like they might argue for snowboarding.
This is a guy standing on a sled for days in the cold! The only way marijuana may be helping is in alleviating boredom. Maybe that’s it. Like the pro golfers insist riding in a golf cart takes away the walking that is a part of the sport, maybe the weed takes away the boredom that is integral to the Iditarod.
As a fan of the Iditarod and Lance Mackey I can tell you that pot smoking has not affected the care of his dogs. He’s won awards for the care of his dogs.
Grave injustice? A guy smokes weed and that’s an injustice to his dogs and his sport? Did you even read my commentary?
Thanks for speaking out about this grave injustice Mackey perpetrates against his dogs and the sport of snow sled racing.
a completely moot point, given that in addition to annually winning the race, Mackey has also won the veterinary award for best dog care several times.
I think the human’s role is more than just deciding when to stop and feeding the dogs. I also doubt that this guy, or anyone competing in the Iditarod, would get so stoned it impaired him in any way.
Staying awake and focusing are probably right up there with enduring the cold as far as useful abilities. Seems like a valid concern that it might give him an unfair edge.
I have to totally agree with Russ. He has won for the last 3 years, so I would say his dogs are in damn fine shape! Maybe he likes to puff one down AFTER a long day of mushing… who knows. Either way I find it ridiculous, especially that an organization in a state that allows personal use takes this stand… What a pitty.
Puff Puff Mush!
All my critters get more care when I am high… I get down in the pig pen for lovin’ while I’m stoned, and they give it back the best way they know. I like to give my Rottweiler lovin’ when I am stoned, and because of that lovin’ he is the most friendly and gentle Rotty I have ever known. I don’t believe he would attack anyone, with the exception of an aggressor. My kitty too… Bein’ high is conducive to love and care for my pets.
Please tell me you’re not serious. You’re alleging that somehow one’s use of cannabis makes one unable to care for their dogs properly? What, the guy gets munchies so bad he eats the dogs’ kibbles ‘n’ bits? He’s so stoned that he forgets to give them water? He finds a cloud so funny that he can’t stop laughing and fails to notice a charging polar bear?
Have you ever smoked marijuana? I read comments like this and I always have to believe they come from someone who has never tried it, someone who thinks smoking a joint suddenly and radically alters your perception, personality, and abilities. One minute he’s an admirable competitor forging a bond with dogs to conquer the great Alaskan wilderness, and the next minute he’s cavalier thrill seeker, mind fogged by demon reefers, carelessly neglecting his canine companions on the frozen tundra. Mr. Mackey has won three straight Iditarods while using pot! Either he’s cared for his dogs properly for three years or many veterinarians have been fooled by a cannabis user for three years.
I own a dog and if anything I’ve found my cannabis use to make me a more attentive and playful owner.
Yeah, I like pot and golf. It’s the only sport where they insist that you drink and drive (golf carts) so a little bud should be welcome on the course.
Oh, I hear Tiger’s up to 7 indiscretions now!
Good one on the “puppy” thing Russ!
“What valid reason could there be for drug testing a dog sled musher for pot, aside from a moral angle?”
An extremely valid reason is that pot may impair the musher’s ability to care for the dogs correctly. The Iditarod is about the bond and respect between these dogs and mushers; there are standards of care for these dogs that the mushers must follow. Veterinarians are at each checkpoint to make sure these are being followed; if a musher is NOT properly caring for their dogs, they are disqualified.
I couldn’t see myself out hunting in the cold, or doing anything in the cold where I live without a hit or two to get my mind off the temperature and on to the beauty of the winter landscape.
I take a golf cart and I smoke pot when I’m golfing. Thats the my idea of a good afternoon.