Eric Rutherford
English 1101 CRN 11790 Section 36
Veronica E. Brown
Informative Essay
11/1/2014
Words: 995
Drug Abuse in the NFL What is the definition of drugs? Is it the simple explanation of a substance we consume that is alien to our bodies, for better or worse? Or is it much more complicated than that? Many would agree that people use them as an escape from reality, a way to hide their pain in life, or a way to deal with stress. People who use illegal drugs for their own benefit, whether it’s for stress release or for performance enhancement, are drug abusers. In today’s society drug abuse is very common. Millions of Americans smoke weed, snort coke, or do heroin and other hardcore drugs. The people who do this are a wide
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In recent months leading up to now, there have been quite a few cases of players abusing drugs, which have led the NFL to consider changes to the policy. There are a handful of specific areas that have been revised recently; these include HGH
Testing, Appeals, DUI Discipline, PED Discipline, Marijuana Threshold, and Marijuana
Discipline (DUI and PED discipline has been ramped up, and marijuana policy is more lax). The
NFL wanted to ease up on the punishments given out on marijuana abuse, and focus on cracking down on DUI’s and PED’s. The punishments given are varied by what offense the player commits. For one of the most popular of drugs, marijuana, a first time offender will be placed in a substance abuse program without any suspension. A second offense leads to a two game fine. Each additional violation leads to a four game fine, a four game suspension, and then a 10 game suspension. So, a player can test positive for marijuana three times without getting suspended (DUI and PED discipline has been ramped up, and marijuana policy is more lax). With DUI’s however, the league has become stricter. In the past, a first time offender was not suspended. Today you get a two game ban for your first violation. Second time offenders get an 8 game suspension and aggravating circumstances can lengthen the suspension. (DUI and PED discipline has been ramped up, and marijuana policy is more lax). As for
The NFL suspends its players without pay for any use of illegal substances based on the number of offenses and the suspensions are four games, eight games, and one full season suspension (Dolich, 2013). Each league has improved its policies in recent years, but the support for increased and better testing continues to grow. The MLB can require players to provide blood samples and the NFL had talks of taking blood samples during training camp in order to test for Human Growth Hormone (HGH), but the NBA and NHL have not applied these procedures in their programs (Calcaterra, 2013).
The spectator of this sport has an obligation to the players of the sport, to make sure that the organization is protecting and looking out for them. Yet not only should the viewer be held accountable for the lack of communication in consequences between the player and the pro scene, but the organization of the NFL needs to make sure that their players have a full understanding of what is going on and how they need to protect the players. The current situation that is understood, contents contain implied knowledge that all parties of this table are in uniform knowledge and agreement to what comes of playing football. Finally, this should also happen at the youth level when kids are just getting into the sport, as it would better inform the parents and the kid if they understood the full
Philip should get suspended“This is your second time this week. Talk about rules, you’re talking suspension.” Pg. 75. “The rule. Two infractions in one week.”“Breaking a rule twice in one week after he’d been warned once.”
LACOE also has a suspension policy. However, there is a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to drugs/narcotics. At times, the zero-tolerance policy may be overlooked. A suspension may not be longer than five consecutive school days. During that time the recommendation to return to the district may be considered. School staff would consider other options available such as counseling, and/or management, and community referral.
There are many different views on whether or not the National Football League (NFL) is right with their substance abuse policy as well as their performing enhancing drugs policy. Both of these policies were agreed upon by the NFL and the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) in 2014. The NFL's current policy on substance abuse includes improper use of prescription drugs, over-the-counter drugs and illegal drugs. The agreement prohibits the use, possession, and distribution of drugs such as cocaine, marijuana, opiates and opiods, MDMA, and PCP. Amphetamines also fall under this policy unless the player has a legitimate documented, legitimate need to treat a medical condition. Many people do not agree with allowing players to take
In the United States of America, federal and state government have implemented new guidance in an attempt to reduce crime, correctional overcrowding, and achieve a greater fairness for adults criminal sentencing. Intermediate sanctions in corrections are forced by the criminal justice system. It is used as an alternate punishments, however, the offender are less likely to serve in prison or jail due to the overcrowding as well as the different crimes committed. For example, Lindsay Lohan was charged for driving under the influence in 2007, she was given remedial counseling and an electronic bracelet to monitor her activities, however, the child celebrity chose to violate her probation with an alcohol level of 0.03 percent, which led her serving a 90 days jail sentence (Duke, 2010).
There are over 8,000 identified sports in the world but most crime comes from basketball, soccer, football, baseball, boxing, and hockey. The NCAA and professional sports are getting more and more strict with a policy that has to do with crime. More and more cases of substance abuse are the cause of most suspensions in professional sports since 2006. In 2014 alone there have been over 20 athletes in college and professional leagues that have been suspended. From charges being as little as theft to murder. Every sport is getting more and more strict with a zero tolerance policy; it has not been stopping the players from committing the crimes, but only resulting in more and more suspensions.
First and foremost suspension kills a student's GPA and i know this from personal experience the average suspension time is five days if the student has seven classes, then that's thirty five assignments that cannot be turned in or made up the average student who is suspended sees their grades drop as much as 3 letter grades which
Since only certain states implement the policy, he was asked if he knew anything about it. "This is a policy for certain infractions that endanger the environment such as fighting, drugs, and gang activity." Therefore, when asked a question regarding the suspension rate of West Meck, this is what he responded with. “More students are written up for minor infractions because they occur more often such as Lockout or skipping class. This is over 80% of our referrals. Consequences are assigned based on the nature, level of severity, and type of disruption caused to the learning environment.”, (Potts, "Zero-Tolerance Policy
“The NFL prohibits the illegal use of drugs and the abuse of prescription drugs, over-the-counter drugs, and alcohol” (Legal Inc). The NFL tests every athlete in April and August for illegal drugs and substances. The NFL didn’t have steroid regulations until 1983 and didn’t suspend players until 1989.
If one Olympic team is found guilty of taking performance enhancing drugs, the entire team may be disqualified and forced to return any medals they have won. Furthermore, the number of NFL players that weigh more than 300 pounds increased from 10 in 1986 to more than 300 by 2004. An additional reason to ban drugs is alcohol can raise your blood pressure. After everything else, the use of performance-enhancing substances in sport is not new, but the means of enhancement are increasing. Those are all
A wide range of sanctions, anywhere from civil penalties, school interventions, to jail time for criminal charges.
suspended. I have decided to change my behavior at Miami and I will stick to this. I have
Drugs have been around for many centuries whether it is used for medicine or for spiritual purposes. There are many drugs in the world that many people do not know about and there are many that everyone knows about. Drugs are mysterious. They can be disguised in almost any form. They come in a simple and natural form also known as nature. Plants around the world have chemicals that soothe pain. These substances were once thought to be “a gift from heaven”, but now, most people think of them as dangerous. At one point, these drugs were legal but today it’s a war on drugs.
Many students tend to perceive school suspension as something that is not a big deal. There are even some who get suspensions just to seem cool. Those children have a hard life ahead of them if they keep that mindset. Teenagers have a tendency to lash out and go against the rules in school. These kids could have trouble in school or at home that cause this sort of behavior. There does seem to be a correlation between suspensions and grades of a student. The amount of suspensions that a student acquires will increase the risk of lower grades and test scores. This could also lead to bad habits down the road that could possible end up with jail time. With jail on someone’s record, they can say goodbye to a lot of jobs.