ItsDanger wrote:mdenny wrote:ItsDanger wrote:Half that list is used as pain management in medical practice. Not in favour of waiving a guy that fast. This is more likely management doesn't want any risk whatsoever, its a zero tolerance policy basically. Kick anyone to the curb for any mistake? Never been my style and I think their approach here is disappointing.
It depeneds on the circumstances. If he's a syrup drinker (i think the kids call it "purp drink" or something like that) then it's likely an everyday habit. Easier to hide then other drugs but the problem is you can't go a day without it or else u get sick. Which means constant maintenance. Travelling with it. Etc.
I doubt they would waive him if something popped up in a blood test as a one-time thing. It was probably an on-going problem. If they enforced this rule THAT strictly then i'm sure half the league would get suspended.
A regular user would have been noticed by coaching staff, very difficult to hide. The highs and lows are too obvious. But we don't know what the substance was. Athletes using pain management is common. I question assuming we should just trust management that it was more serious than we know. The pattern to date suggests they eliminate any PR issues as soon as possible.
End of day.....he's got an extremely rich amd powerful union looking out for his legal interests. There is 0% chance this was some sort of unfair thing where he was taking prescribed painkillers. The union would grieve the suspension if his case was anything except for obvious and serious. I doubt the league could even getting away with doing this if a player decides to do coke in vegas one night. The union wouldn't let them be that unreasonable.
It's also likely that there were efforts made before it got to this. Ie warnings, offerings for help. Its happened so infrequently for a reason. Im sure lots of players mess around with drugs on that list and occsionally get talked to about it without the suspension being handed down.
The highs and lows of coke and speed are impossible to hide. Not really true with opiates except for when someone is an absolute fiend. Its easy to hide as long as u dont go through withdrawals. Much easier to hide than even alchoholism.
