Drugs in professional sports have been quite a relevant topic over the past few years. No one had ever taken a step forward to talk about the situation like the former champion Matt Barnes, who left quite a controversial statement about the current NBA.
In a program made by Bleacher Report especially to discuss this issue, several former players such as Matt Barnes, Al Harrington, Cuttino Mobley and Kenyon Martin, expressed their feelings about the issue of marijuana in the league. The athletes stated that in their times as professionals, they used to smoke at least two 'joints' the same day of the game, since as they say, it helped them to play more calmly.
‘’In a normal game day, if we played at night what I would do was go to training in the morning, go back to my house and smoke, take a nap, shower, eat, and then head to the stadium.''
It should be noted that these players participated for more than 10 years in the NBA, so it is impressive the way in which the league allowed all this to develop.
All these veterans drew attention with their statements but the one that surprised the most was Matt Barnes’, who said he has consumed 'Cannabis' since he was in high school and mentioned that most of the players in the league do it nowadays.
''I have done it since I was very young and as the marijuana tests in the NBA were done at the beginning of the season, I knew when I had to quit smoking to avoid testing positive... If you ask me, I would say that 85% of basketball players smoke pot.’’
This is a problem that will be discussed everywhere until it is legalized, but in the meantime, the association should have a more severe protocol when it comes to players using drugs not only during the season, but on the same game days.
Barnes, 39, was an NBA champion with the Warriors in 2017, and is now the host of the 'All The Smoke' podcast with Stephen Jackson.