Cowboys: Randy Gregory Suspension Should Be Challenged

Dallas Cowboys defensive end Randy Gregory has been suspended for the first four games of the 2016 season, another bogus move that should be overturned.

Former University of Nebraska defensive end Randy Gregory fell to the Dallas Cowboys in the second round of the 2015 NFL Draft. The reasons for this all centered around a history of cannabis usage that remains prohibited in the NFL and in some parts of the United States.

Upon being drafted by the Cowboys, Gregory was quoted as being conscious of his affinity for the plant and it’s active ingredient while also stating that he intended to change his image, apparently only tarnished because of failed drug tests while with the Cornhuskers.

Now comes word that Gregory has been suspended for the first four games next season, presumably because of the same issue.

Now, nobody I’ve talked to and nothing I’ve read tells me that any other substance is involved in this matter. Operating with the knowledge that I have, I have to make the case for Gregory’s suspension to be challenged and overturned.

The legal precedent is growing rapidly in the United States, one that concludes that either the medical or recreational use of cannabis is not illegal – it doesn’t matter what the Federal government thinks about the issue either.

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At this point, four states in the Union have legalized cannabis usage for any reason.

Further, another 19 states have medical cannabis laws on the books that will likely turn into all-out legalization in the near future.

Don’t think that the dominoes will stop falling at almost half of the Union either. This trend has been escalating rapidly over the last decade-plus and the tax dollars alone make legalization far more fruitful than the hopeless task of trying to stop a plant from growing indoors or out.

The United States is moving beyond its decades-old laws that have put hundreds of thousands of people behind bars and, easily, tens of thousands of other careers in jeopardy.

Take Gregory, along with many other NFL athletes who have their highly limited careers, chronologically speaking, minimized or outright ruined because the NFL still operates like it’s still in the ignorant 1950s when it comes to the usage of this plant.

Now, you could say that Gregory knew the rules and chose to break those anyway, while also claiming that he has some kind of problem that inhibits his ability to be a one-time first-round talent.

However, I would have to counter with the fact that a rule or law has to have something moral or beneficial to society backing it up, or that law should be abolished – the same way we’re seeing cannabis prohibition quickly evaporating across the United States.

I could get into what medical researchers have to say about cannabis as a drug. I could point out that the substance known as THC has never caused a death due to overdose and those who choose to smoke cannabis are far less likely to develop lung cancer than those who smoke tobacco, another plant that’s obviously as legal as the days are short – it’s winter, so they’re pretty short right now.

Why bother?

You’re probably already aware of details like this as they’ve been pointed out now for many years.

So why is a player like Gregory, and countless others, still subject to such outdated policies that are no longer in-step with much of the United States and counting?

This is a great question for the NFL Players Association, and hopefully sooner than later. The Cowboys, themselves, should be taking a good look in the mirror as well.

Again, to break a law or regulation is one thing, but only if there’s validity behind that law, which in this case there appears to be little, if any.

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Perhaps it’s true that Gregory needs to improve his image, an event that could certainly happen once he starts sacking quarterbacks the way he did while in Lincoln.

Or, maybe it’s time that the NFL do some serious work on its increasingly troubling image.

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