artie_fufkin wrote:

forsberg_us wrote:

artie_fufkin wrote:

Marijuana is legal in at least four states, and it will probably be legal in more than half of them within 10 years. It's hardly a performance enhancing drug, unless it results in the rest of the Red Sox making it to the post-game spread before Pablo Sandoval can devour it. MLB needs to get current on this issue.

In all 50 states, including those in which it is legal, an employer can terminate an employee for testing positive for marijuana.  I'd say MLB is current on this issue.

I've never smoked marijuana, so I can't say I relate to the appeal.  But if I had prospects of making the major leagues and one of the conditions of making it was that I give up bacon cheeseburgers, I'd figure out a way to stop eating bacon cheeseburgers.

I shouldn't be foolish enough to debate a labor attorney who works in the best labor law office in St. Louis on a point of labor law, and I understand no employer wants an employee showing up high, but if you're smoking marijuana off-the-clock in a state where marijuana is legal, how is that any different than downing a couple of beers at the neighborhood tavern after work?
 

There probably isn't any, but it's the employer's business so the employer gets to set the rules.  I haven't looked at the issue that closely, but I remember a case out of Colorado in which the employee challenged his termination under a statute that provided an employee couldn't be terminated for engaging in behavior that was otherwise lawful.  I can't remember whether it was an appellate court or Colorado's Supreme Court, but the ultimate ruling was that the termination was lawful because possessing marijuana was illegal under federal law and, therefore, the behavior wasn't "otherwise lawful."

I suspect one of the difficulties that marijuana will always face is the time it remains in the body.  As you stated, no employer wants an employee showing up at work high.  An employer certainly can terminate an employee who shows up under the influence, but in the case of alcohol, if the employee has a couple of beers the night before, the alcohol is out of his system before morning.  

I know the role model vs just a baseball player conversation is pointless but i think it is in the best interest of the league to try to make thier players role models.  Tim tebow, kurt warner and all the others have made themselfs and leagues alot of extra money by selling their character.  Not that smoking weed makes you a horrible person but it can clearly lead to bad decisions.

And remember these are young men, on their own for the first time, away from home, with money in their pocket and running around with like minded people.

The idea that pot can be smoked recreationaly without ruining a persons life is true.  So can meth and crack.  People do use those drugs in moderation and live a productive life.  It might be more rare but it happens.

APIAD wrote:

I know the role model vs just a baseball player conversation is pointless but i think it is in the best interest of the league to try to make thier players role models. Tim tebow, kurt warner and all the others have made themselfs and leagues alot of extra money by selling their character. Not that smoking weed makes you a horrible person but it can clearly lead to bad decisions.

And remember these are young men, on their own for the first time, away from home, with money in their pocket and running around with like minded people.

The idea that pot can be smoked recreationaly without ruining a persons life is true. So can meth and crack. People do use those drugs in moderation and live a productive life. It might be more rare but it happens.

Yeah, most of my friends smoke pot and lead at least fairly productive lives. I never liked it because it made me fall asleep and made my mouth dry, which was a real problem back when I chewed tobacco.
I know nothing about meth. It's not a popular drug around here. We have a massive heroin problem here, but I don't think I recall more than a handful of meth-related police reports in the last half-dozen years since I became a reporter again. Same with coke. You don't hear much about it around here anymore. I dated a woman back in the '80s who was a coke addict. She managed to hide it well for awhile, but she ended up losing her job(s), her friends and her money.