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| Charles Rogers shortly after being selected by Detroit. |
Recently Americans
went to the polls to perform their civic duty and vote. Not surprisingly, the most publicized result
was President Obama getting reelected for another term of office. Another outcome that received a lot of
national attention was the legalization of marijuana for recreational use in
the sates of Colorado and Washington.
In Colorado the piece of legislation that
legalized recreational marijuana use is called Amendment
64 and in Washington it is called Initiative 502. Both pieces of legislation are mostly similar
and they allow adults 21 and older to legally possess marijuana in their
respective states. The state governments
of Colorado and Washington will regulate the sale of marijuana by granting
licenses to marijuana dispensaries.
These marijuana dispensaries will be monitored and taxed by their
respective states.
After voters from
Colorado and Washington approved the use of recreational marijuana, I wondered
if John Stuart Mill would
approve of this majority decision. John
Stuart Mill was a political theorist who believed that we learn by examining "experiments in living." An “experiment in living” could be converting
to a new religion, joining a new social club, going to college, or smoking
marijuana. Most people would say that
Mill would support the decision of voters from Colorado and Washington because
“experiments in living,” allow us to learn from others experiences. But, would Mill believe this is an
appropriate result if we already know the harm of marijuana use?
Since my family,
friends, and I have no personal experiences with weed, I cannot share my own
experimentation with the drug. Instead I
will examine the life of Charles
Rogers. Rogers is from Saginaw, Michigan and was a
highly successful high school athlete that excelled in football. He received a scholarship to play wide
receiver at Michigan State University.
After breaking numerous records at MSU he entered the NFL draft and was
picked second overall in the 2003 draft.
The team lucky enough to choose Rogers was my team, the Detroit
Lions. Rogers became one of the biggest
draft busts in NFL history because he was constantly getting suspended. The NFL was required to suspend Rogers for
four different occasions because he continually failed the NFL marijuana drug
policy. In 2006, the Lions had enough
and released Rogers because he was under performing and unable to play due to
suspensions. Following his release from
the Lions, Rogers tried to restart his career with the Miami Dolphins, New
England Patriots, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but he couldn’t get another
contract with a new team.
Charles Rogers is
just one of countless examples of how marijuana abuse can destroy one’s
life. Rogers had numerous endorsement
deals, a lucrative contract and the ability to be one of the greatest wide
receivers ever, but he smoked it away. Thus,
I would have to conclude that Mill would chastise voters from Colorado and
Washington for legalizing the recreational use of marijuana because of all the information
we have on the effects of its use. Mill
would consider Amendment 64 and Initiative 502 to be an act of stupidity and
not an “experiment in living.”
What do you think
about Colorado and Washington voters legalizing marijuana? Do you know of any other examples of bad
results from marijuana use? Should fans
of the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks be concerned?
An ESPN interview with Charles Rogers talking about his drug use.
Mark, this is an interesting post because there has been a lot of debate recently especially as Colorado and Washington are now allowing the recreational use of marijuana. I want to touch on your Charles Rogers issue that you discussed. Charles Rogers was an unbelievable player at Michigan State and seemed to even have a brighter future because NFL analysts and experts believed his skill set would thrive at the next level. Being a Lions fan I was just as let down as you and probably most people were with the production I saw from him. It was hard to feel bad for a guy who failed not one but four drug tests and clearly did not seem to care about his football career. I do not know how much marijuana directly affected his play because I hear of NBA players playing "stoned" so I can not make the statement that marijuana is what ruined Charles Rogers, especially considering how most people believe he played many games high at Michigan State as well. However, I know it did not help because Rogers seemed to care more about that and whatever other drugs he was on than his career which makes me question the kind of person he is. I do not really have an opinion of whether I agree or disagree with Washington and Colorado's decisions other than that i think it makes it complicated for the rest of the country to know that what they are doing is illegal at their current location but would be widely accepted in other states. Just a thought.
ReplyDeleteAlong the same lines as Dillon I think in some cases marijuana can be seen to ruin someone's career even if the actual drug does not cause them to under perform. Around 2001 or 2002 a great running back came out of my high school on a full ride to the University of Michigan. He smoked marijuana all the time and actually got caught two or three times in high school but was still allowed to go to Michigan. Additionally, despite smoking throughout high school he managed to set state records in track and become the Gatorade National Player of the year. My point is that I agree with the original point of this blog that Mill would deem an experiment in living that has failed to be a waste of time. However, we need to look at whether it is actually the smoking marijuana that causes the persons talents to decrease or if it is just the suspensions resulting from the smoking that shorten a player's career. A more relevant experiment in living would be to allow athletes who want to smoke marijuana to do so and see if the level of play increases. This will probably never happen but I think that it is interesting that marijuana can effectively end a player's career even if he or she performs well on the drug. Which poses the question, do you think we should allow athletes in Colorado and Washington to use marijuana based on the new law?
ReplyDeleteHey Jordan, I think you brought up a very interesting and controversial question, should we allow athletes in Colorado and Washington to use marijuana based on the new law? I think athletes should be allow to use marijuana for recreational use because they're citizens and regular people. I personally think, however, that athletes should not smoke weed during the season because they're are possible doing a disservice to their teammates, team, and fans if their performance decreases. Controversial, Roger Goodell, the commissioner of the NFL, said that players in Colorado and Washington will be required to still pass the NLF's drug policies tests.
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