Compassionate Coaching
Golden State Warrior head coach Steve Kerr recently won his second National Basketball Association (NBA) championship as a coach this past June. Kerr also won five championships as a player, but recently he added another line to his impressive resume—cannabis consumer.
In December 2016, Kerr was featured on The Warriors Insider Podcast when he first came out in support of cannabis. “I guess maybe I can even get in some trouble for this, but I’ve actually tried it twice during the last year and a half, when I’ve been going through this chronic pain that I’ve been dealing with,” Kerr said.
With that declaration, the highest profile coach in the NBA admitted that cannabis was a viable option for medical purposes. Kerr used cannabis to treat his back, despite knowing that he could be drug tested at any time. He later clarified that he had stopped consuming cannabis, but felt that it was a better solution than harmful painkillers.
“We have tried to stop [cannabis use] in the NBA. I don’t think we have been able to stop it. I think it still goes on and is still a part of the culture in the NBA.”
His interview helped shine a light on professional sports and medicine, where trainers prescribe harmful drugs like Vicodin, with proven negative side-effects, like aspirin for everything from broken bones to concussions.
Cannabis has been banned in NBA since 1983, when the league adopted an anti-drug policy that featured 160 substances. Though in recent years, the league appears to be softening its stance on cannabis, Commissioner Adam Silver has repeatedly downplayed cannabis as a banned substance, preferring instead to combat the growing epidemic of performance enhancing substances, such as human growth hormone.
Phil Jackson, considered to be one of the greatest coaches in the history of the NBA, admitted to consuming cannabis when he was a player. Before he was an 11-time NBA champion coach, Jackson played for the New York Knicks and New Jersey Nets. After a back surgery sidelined him during the 1969-1970 season, he turned to cannabis as a distraction to help him get over his pain. “[When I was recovering from back surgery], I was smoking marijuana during that period of time,” Jackson said. “I think it was a distraction for me as much as a pain reliever. But I never thought of it as ultimately a pain medication for that type of situation . . . We have tried to stop [cannabis consumption] in the NBA. I don’t think we have been able to stop it. I think it still goes on and is still a part of the culture in the NBA. It is something that we either have to accommodate or figure out another way to deal with it.”
In addition, numerous former players have come out of the shadows to discuss cannabis after their playing days are through, without fear of punishment from the league. All-Stars such as Cliff Robinson and Chauncey Billups, have made repeated statements about their cannabis use, with Billups claiming that some of his teammates played better after consuming cannabis, as it calmed their nerves. Silver has stated that the NBA will look into re-evaluating the league’s drug policy. Currently the NBA performs four random drug tests on every player each season, with two additional tests during the off-season. If you fail a drug test, you must complete a substance abuse program. Test positive a second time and you face a $25,000 fine; it is not until your third failed test that you are suspended for five games.
When compared to the other three major North American Sports, the NBA is most in line with the National Football League (NFL). Both feature similar fines and suspensions, although in the NFL, it is a much bigger deal to miss a couple games, as their season is only 16 games, as opposed to the NBA’s 82. Neither the National Hockey League (NHL) nor Major League Baseball (MLB) tests for cannabis, preferring to focus on performing enhancing substances and harder “street dugs” like cocaine, methamphetamines and heroin. MLB will administer a test for cannabis if there is overwhelming evidence of cannabis use, but it is rarely evoked and typically amounts to a fine. The NHL does not discipline players for testing positive for cannabis.
