A simple admission by former Eagles defensive end Chris Long has turned into a call for changes to the NFL/NFLPA’s drug policy, as it relates to marijuana usage among NFL players. Rather than focusing on how he beat the league’s testing model, Long is hoping to shift the conversation to the league one day changing the testing policy, and therefore, the stigma associated with the drug as it relates to players.
“I think the reaction has been interesting because even people that support you, it just shows the stigmatization is so ingrained,” Long said, via ESPN. “A lot of people like now are tweeting at me and every tweet is like, ‘hey man, are we gonna spark one up dude?’ I’m like, ‘Chill with the stereotypes.’
“Marijuana is a part of people’s lives. It’s not their life. And obviously, then you have the minority, which is less than 10% of the responses I’ve seen, which are like, ‘that stuff’s the devil.'”
During his initial revelation, Long was more peeved that the conversation and headlines focused on the negative impacts of his statement, and less on destigmatizing the usage among players.
“The lead was not that I smoked marijuana. The lead was that I talked about trying to destigmatize it. And hopefully, the NFL will hear some of their players talk – former or current if you have the balls – to say, ‘something needs to change,'” Long said.
The league and the players union have recently taken steps to further support and address behavioral health and pain management, with the use of marijuana by players becoming a viable option.
