BLOWING SMOKE: MARIJUANA USE NBA'S BIGGEST DRUG CONCERN THESE DAYS

The stock line with regard to marijuana use in the NBA for years went
something like this
if commissioner David Stern walked in on a team at
halftime and they were getting high, he would have no other recourse than
to smile and just say no if a player asked him if he had a light.

Evidently, players rarely say no these days amid reports that as many as 70
percent smoke pot at least on a recreational basis.

Because it's not included with cocaine, heroin, amphetamines and opium in
the league's current drug policy. With the existing agreement with the
union being scrapped in the current lockout by owners, the marijuana issue
is one of the elements being carved into the negotiations over a new deal.

"In 1983 (when the first drug policy was implemented), 70 percent of the
NBA players used cocaine, and marijuana wasn't on the radar screen," Stern
said. "Marijuana is something society has struggled with and, in some
jurisdictions, decriminalized. For us, there was the more important issue
of the epidemic of crack and cocaine sweeping the country. If, in fact,
marijuana is a problem in society, sports has the opportunity to lead
rather than to hide."

BACK IN THOSE DAYS, AND EVEN more so a decade earlier, cocaine and crack
led the way in the NBA. Teams couldn't wait to play the Warriors in the Bay
Area; Oakland was known as "Cokeland," and the unsavory characters who hung
with the players around the airport hotels were alarming even for the
worldly NBA types.

Guys such as John Lucas, Orlando Woolridge and John Drew came out of
college highly regarded and ended up just, well, high. They fell into the
trap of alcohol and cocaine, among other drugs. They played to get high
instead of playing to win, according to Lucas, who now is in charge of the
NBA after-care program. Woolridge continues to tell stories of what was and
what he wishes had never been.

"The troubles athletes go through are for a lot of reasons," said
Woolridge, now an assistant coach with the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks.
"There's so much money and time and pressure and people coming at you all
the time from different directions, you have to really be together to keep
your head on straight. How many people in the early-to-mid 20s are ready to
handle all of that? There's no way to develop your potential if drugs are
in the way."

The problems of cocaine nearly killed the entire Phoenix Suns franchise in
the mid-1980s when almost half the team was indicted after a Maricopa
County investigation. Ultimately, one of the original members of the
organization, team president Jerry Colangelo, brought together a consortium
to buy the Suns and tear them apart from top to bottom.

Colangelo still feels it was a witch hunt, but nonetheless, something was
clearly wrong. Out of that trouble, Colangelo managed to create one of the
great professional franchises, leading to him landing major-league baseball
for Phoenix. It also earned him the reputation as one of the brightest
visionaries in sports.

"It was a horrible situation, and I cared too much about the Phoenix Suns
to just let it fall apart," Colangelo said at the time. "There were a lot
of people who made mistakes, and with the investigation as high profile as
it was, they were going to nail as many big names as they could. We were
lucky it wasn't worse."

THE COCAINE PROBLEM FOR THE NBA had reached a zenith in the 1986 draft,
preceding the Suns nightmare. The lottery was filled with nasal problems.
The second pick overall, Len Bias, died in the wee hours after the draft
from a cocaine overdose. The Suns suffered with William Bedford's coke
problems. Roy Tarpley's immense talent in Dallas was snowed under by
cocaine and alcohol abuse. Chris Washburn was the third pick overall by
Golden State and was a washout, recently reported as living on the streets
of Atlanta, then Dallas.

That's four of the top seven picks going down the tubes fast. They've been
out of sight and mind for years now.

"Even in the middle of all that, we were blinded to how bad it was," Lucas
said. "It was just like the game -- fast and filling you full of ego. What
happened to Lenny Bias could have happened to a lot of guys. We were all
lucky it wasn't worse."

They fed off each other, blowing their way to the next city. So when Stern
became commissioner and they put together the drug policy for the
collective bargaining agreement in 1983, marijuana just wasn't perceived as
a problem. They were adamant about exorcising cocaine. That wasn't
accomplished for years, until less-harmful marijuana became the drug of
choice.

"When we drafted Washburn, we looked right past his problems," said George
Karl, then the Warriors coach and fired by the Seattle SuperSonics last
month. "He had so much talent, we didn't see the other side. A 6-11 player
with power, floor skills and touch is all we saw. But once we got him, we
knew something was wrong. Wash had all those talents and that size and
couldn't play. Cocaine was ruining him.

If you think a particular player is smoking marijuana, he probably is. But
it's not as obvious as cocaine because there aren't the mood swings. I had
a rookie who got on the elevator with me and just reeked of marijuana. I
said to him, 'Rook, if you're going to get high before a game, the least
you can do is change your clothes or take a shower or something before you
walk out of your room.'

"He showed more quickness running out of that elevator back to his room
than he ever showed on the basketball court."

NOW THE SITUATION HAS COME TO A HEAD, so to speak. You look around the
league at teen-agers coming in and making millions of dollars and realize
there's little that can be done without regular testing.

Once again, Allen Iverson, the Philadelphia guard with superstar talent but
horrible influences around him, is in the middle of something he shouldn't
be near. A couple of his good buddies took his new car and were arrested
after they completed a deal for cocaine and marijuana, according to police,
last week in Norfolk, Va.

This is the third year in a row Iverson's friends have drawn him into the
media with drug-related problems. He was a passenger in his own car last
fall when a marijuana cigarette and a gun were found under his seat. The
year before, one of the two friends from this year's incident, Michael
Powell, was involved with Iverson's car, a shooting and drugs.

The sad part is, people around Iverson enough find him likable and
congenial. He has just exhibited bad taste in friends, and it's going to
get him into the same trouble he found when he was jailed during high
school.

The same goes for many other NBA players in danger of being dragged down by
the clinging fingers of the less-fortunate friends they had while growing
up. But the NBA can obviously do little more than keep the unpalatable
people out of the locker rooms.

Now it's just a matter of including marijuana, and probably excessive
alcohol, on the table of these negotiations. Despite consistent denials
from executive director Billy Hunter, Stern claims the only way those two
elements get on the bargaining table to stay is with some return on it for
the players.

"But it's not as easy as it sounds," Stern said. "Our stance has been,
'Let's discuss it,' and thus far, the players have said, 'a) we won't
discuss it, and b) if we do, you've got to pay us for it,' and that's a
fact."

For now, they're all paying for it. There is a lockout. There is a problem
with attitudes and extracurricular activities, and it has affected the game
itself as the aging megastars are on the verge of leaving.

"I don't have a problem with testing," San Antonio star David Robinson
said. "The only problem is the guys who take offense to getting tested
because they're in denial over what they're doing. This is a pivotal time
in the NBA. We can't let things get away from us, and the last thing we
should do is let drugs play a role."

Checked-by: (Joel W. Johnson)