Can we just play the game (and win). My hopes of a resurgent Milwaukee team have been diminished and my hopes are now resigned to a "hope and a prayer" to get to the Semis or Championship being a lowly #4-#9 in the HLT. It did not need to be like this. But come what may. Hopefully this squad is resilient and still remembers how they can slaughter the likes of UWGB when they bully themselves and put their mind to it...
I understand the idea of being tight-lipped about a player's violation of team rules. But as much as I am a proponent of marijuana not being Schedule I (with the likes of Heroin, LSD, Ecstasy and other immensely more harmful drugs... and sorry Brew City- alcohol is a drug. It's not "drugs and alcohol". It's "drugs". I've personal experiences and over a dozen friends' and relatives' coffins to prove it)- I am pissed that every single one of us in Panther Nation is in the dark of the Jay-O situation. If this were UW-Madison or Marquette, something would have been said by now. So far? 4 days passed.... Nothing. I'm sure his late Mother would be happy he is being used as a pawn- or worse, being way over-the-top punished for a little plant called marijuana.
Are we talking rape (MU players... ok, I'll stop there- you all read the stories)? Are we talking burglary (Scam Newton?, Diamond Taylor?), are we talking being caught with large (1/4lb I believe if was) quantities of marijuana like a once-former heralded UWM recruit was?
I don't think so- but who knows? We have been told: NOTHING.
DEA Schedule I Drugs= Heroin, Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD), Marijuana (cannabis), 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (Ecstasy), Methaqualone, and Peyote*
www.justice.gov/dea/druginfo/ds.shtml **
Man, 'last time I smoked weed I [sarcasm] definitely felt like I was tripped out, out of my mind on
LSD, Ecstasy or Peyote! And Cocaine is Schedule II? ROTFLMAO. Who wrote these "Schedules"? Tony Montana? It's a farce beyond belief. If the schedule went further I'm sure the poison spirit known as alcohol would be right in their with Cinneburst gum and Mountain Dew... Laught all you want, but a farce only becomes recognized when somebody points it out.
Why don't we put hobby-shop glue up there in the mix? I haven't myself, but I've heard stories of that (and Freon for car air conditioning) being abused. People can die off that stuff. Marijuana? Nope. Sorry. Unless you've the lung power to smoke 175-250+lbs of some 5%-10% grade. It's not gonna happen. Do people abuse and get lazy? Absolutely. Can they die if driving or operating heavy machinery? (have you looked at the warnings on the back of your Rx if you have one?). Absolutely. Can they die sitting in the comfort of their own home watching Half-Baked, King of New York, Up in Smoke, The Big Lebowski, or any stand-up from Sam Kinison, Richard Pryor, Dave Chappelle, George Carlin, Patrice Oneal, Paul Mooney.. skits of SNL from Chris Farley et all? Nope. Bag of cheetoes and a long snore....
But keep the push against that "evil, despicable plant" we call Marijuana up!
Public opinion polls show that for the first time since polling back in the 70's/80's- SUPPORT of legalization outnumbers opposition to legalization somewhere around 58-39. Wait(!). Here is the link:
www.gallup.com/poll/165539/first-time-americans-favor-legalizing-marijuana.aspxIt's only a matter of time folks. Sorry to say. 'Don't shoot the messenger. As a (hopefully) future parent, I'd prefer my kids took no substances for kicks. But I'd much prefer they take marijuana than a booze infused chaotic concoction like the one that sent two of my friends into a cornfield after their car flipped. Alcohol is soooooo awesome, right?
What is the deal? Seriously. What is the deal Milwaukee AD? When will Jay-O be back? If we salvage anything from this season- we need him as our main scoring threat. Is he a PG? We found that answer out last season. But can Steve-O score 25-30pts in any given game? ....Ugggh. I just hate being kept in the dark by this team's administration. Maybe it's tactile. Maybe I (and most all of us here) are impatient... but we will find out soon enough (tomorrow let's hope).
I have seen people ruin their lives drinking alcohol and doing other hard-core drugs. I have seen people pass out with a bag of Cheetos having smoked marijuana. There is a lot of history surrounding this debate and many people still believe weed is evil and leads to crime/insanity/debauchery/etc. having grown up watching propaganda like "Reefer Madness".
But at the end of the day- what is the deal?? An internally tested failed drug test? An NCAA drug test failure? Actual possession charges (which by the way has been reduced to a misdemeanor ticket in Milwaukee for the past several years- ask BBFran wherever he went..).
I am not condoning anything. But the "crime?" should fit whatever the punishment is. If I were a coach I would bench a player longer for taking trips to Chicago and missing several practices (a la Tim Flowers and Kevin Johnson), than for testing positive for a substance that requires you to smoke/ingest your entire body weight to die.
Sorry to sound like "Cheech and Chong" over here; but, while I've no criminal history with the substance of ganja- I know many who do. And the judicial consequences they suffered far, far, far exceeded the so-called "harm" they did to themselves or society.
I don't want to rain on the alcohol parade- but alcohol- is a DRUG. And it is 1000x worse a drug (for your body, for the anger and depression and suicidal thoughts it induces on some heavy users) than a lil' ol' plant that has the effects no more harmful than all the over-the-counter (Valarian Root, Tylonel PM, Robitussin, etc.) and Rx drugs like Alprazolam, Ambien, Vicodin, Oxycontin, Percocet, Valium, Tylonol 3, Vikoprofin, Ultracet/Tramadol, Ultram, Cyclobenzaprine (muscle relaxers)...
But I digress. Maybe Jay-O doesn't even normally smoke ganja and made the apparently "horrendously bad(?)" choice of taking a drag off a joint at at UWM house party... and then failed a test. Who are we or someone who found (probably a minuscule amount of marijuana above the 50 ng/ml threshold most tests require THC be below)- to JUDGE him as some kind of "druggie?" Give me a break with that nonsense.
I just want to know facts. Because I see far more problems with other REAL hard-core substances, than to have one of our best players benched for getting hungry, laughing, and probably passing out very shortly thereafter.
Sorry if I offended those of you who believe in this Schedule of Drugs as Set by the DEA (and while the Warren Commission recommended pot not be Schedule 1-A.... nothing mattered. Nixon wanted the Hippies gone (they- were a political threat).... And so we live with that reality today. I don't particularly like coffee because it induces anxiety if I drink too much of it. Does that mean I should wage war on Starbucks?? C'mon now..
I am fully in favor of ensuring people aren't out on the roads while high on marijuana... But there already are. And people on Rx's and esp. Alcohol coming home so dangerously, rolling the dice from the bar. And even people who work third shift whose faculties aren't operating at 100%. We need to be fair about our drug laws and not ostracize a great smelling plant that by and large makes people merry, happy, laughable, hungry and sleepy- over the plethroa of other substance problems our nation needs to address. It's misguided resources. It's a tremendous waste of lots of taxpayer money.
But what would I know? I am no politician, CBO Economist, or even a member of NORML. I just am pissed as all get out when someone's life is threatened or ruined for smoking "the Devil's weed". It's the "Devil's Drink" I'l tell ya.
But to each his own, eh? Drink up. I know I will until I can find a place that doesn't value alcohol over everything else and that demonizes marijuana. (and SuperKing, I understand exactly where you are coming from but(!)- if you are at a UWM house party- it's not at all hard to get busted with pot- maybe laws have been relaxed more; but when I was there- I had literally a half dozen friends get possession charges- nearly all of them- for less than 1 gram of marijuana).
Grab tha 1.75LR and let's have a blast and delude ourselves into thinking marijuana is as harmful as heroin and alcohol is as healthy as rice cakes!!
Take another shot- I'm sure your fatty liver will smile and help you forget the
TRUTH.**Notice at all that ALCOHOL is not even on the list? It's a sad, sad frickin' joke.
Again- read up:
www.justice.gov/dea/druginfo/ds.shtmlGO PANTHERS!!!! (But don't eat the brownies- please- stay far, far away from any brownies your classmates and friends tell you are "body-buzzers"). I'm out. I just can't stand when people treat marijuana as if it is more harmful than prescription Rx's or alcohol, etc. It disgusts me. Because I have abused alcohol- and I can tell you period, point, blank- ALCOHOL is a (somehow acceptable) DRUG.
Moderate drinking is OK. But a whole lot more people destroy their own lives and others drinking than do people like the protagonist "The Dude" f/The Big Lebowski (even though he enjoyed many a White Russian throughout that cult classic film).
My point is
relativism. How pot is Schedule I and Alcohol is not even considered a "drug with high consequence for abuse and harmful damage to health"(?)- that's beyond me. I guess America is just the land of the functional drunkards. I want out of that boat. I want sensible drug laws for all things that have no nutritional value and impair the mind (D.A.R.E. taught me that in the early 1990's).
I just want Jordan to get a fair shot- because in my opinion and in my experience, if "pot" is the issue here for a potentially lengthy suspension? We have all gone to pot. I'm done. Peace, Always.
Let's get a home playoff game and win with or without our "junkie/criminal who happened to smoke weed" tomorrow night.
GO PANTHERS.www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xVEa0SMxFg (The Vent- I figure only Hip-Hop fans will digg this...)
www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/motivational-speaker/n10432 (Don't wind up living in a Van... Down by tha River!!!!)
