Cheech & Chong & CJ

Mortal lock top 10 picks Calvin Johnson, Gaines Adams, and Amobi Okoye reportedly admitted to smoking pot at the NFL Scouting Combine. I don't see how GMs can knock these guys down their draft boards as a result. Warren Sapp was thought to be a lock for the top 5 in 1995 when drugs caused a slide to the 12th pick, but it was the unfounded rumors of cocaine use more than the positive tests for marijuana while at Miami that were to blame. John Lucas, a recovering drug addict and alcoholic who has once the #1 pick in the NBA draft out of Maryland, said that when he was coach of the Spurs he would ask potential draft picks if they had ever smoked pot. If they said no, he would assume they were lying and lower them on his draft board. If they said yes, he would ask if they could quit. In any job besides NBA player, NFL player, rapper, or SNL cast member, your chances at landing a job are diminished considerably if you admit to drug use. Does that speak to the lower standards of professional sports leagues (and the incredibly low standards of the one time sketch comedy giant) or of the hypocrisy of the rest of society?

At schools in the power conferences, there is roughly a 50% chance that a student will smoke pot at some point, whether or not they are an athlete, according to the White House and USA Today. So if you assume there is no higher or lower incidence among football players than the general populace, about 127 of the 255 players that will be drafted next weekend will have experimented with marijuana at one time. After watching the Pacman Sportscenter piece where they edit him all the times he says he's learned from this mistake into a 2 minute montage, my thinking is that teams will have an easier time reaching the players who will at least acknowledge a problem.