Marijuana use has lost its stigma and, in most jurisdictions, any and all threats of criminal prosecution. However, it remains a no-no for the NFL.
It’s stupid. It’s outdated. It needs to go away. Because, however, it’s a matter of collective bargaining, the league won’t simply tear down that wall and let players smoke without consequence.
That makes paragraph 14 of the complaint filed by two Atlas Air flight attendants against the Jaguars and former Jaguars (now Commanders) kicker Brandon McManus significant, as far as 345 Park Avenue is concerned: “Throughout the course of the flight, Plaintiffs smelled marijuana smoke coming from the plane’s restrooms.”
The Jaguars already have a potential problem arising from the potential violations of the alcohol policy that will come to light during the litigation. The marijuana angle creates a separate set of issues.
If people were smoking in the bathroom on the plane, plenty of other people will have smelled it. And when the players and other witnesses to whatever McManus did or didn’t do testify under oath, they’ll have to say what they saw, heard, and smelled.
That testimony could, in turn, get one or more players or other team personnel in a pickle with the substance-abuse policy.
The good news is that suspensions have become much more rare. But fines are still imposed. And if the league still cares about the marijuana policy, it will definitely care about getting to the bottom of the allegation that a specific sort of skunk was a stowaway on the flight to London.
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