CFL'S POT COLUMN GOES UP IN SMOKE

Sean Millington's Pot Shots Have Disappeared Into Cyberspace.

The CFL yesterday deleted a column from its website in which the
former player-turned-broadcaster suggested marijuana use in the
league is rampant and commissioner Mark Cohon is planning to waste
money with an unnecessary drug policy. The column, which was topped
by the headline "CFL -- Clean Football League," was initially posted
on www.cfl.ca four days ago.

Metro created nationwide attention for the column in its Wednesday
editions by outlining Millington's eyebrow-raising revelations and
views, and urging readers to check them out on the CFL's site. Dozens
of readers e-mailed us yesterday, however, to complain they couldn't
find the piece.

The reason? Well, upon further review, the CFL decided to pull it.
And Millington was thrown for a loss.

"It's disappointing," the CBC football analyst told Metro yesterday
from his Vancouver home. "I'd like to feel that my opinion should
stand on its own merits and that it shouldn't arbitrarily be taken
off. I think it should be on the site to promote conversation and debate."

Millington, who spent 13 seasons as a fullback with the B.C. Lions,
Edmonton Eskimos, Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Toronto Argonauts, wrote,
while smoking pot is "large" among CFL players, there's little use of
performance-enhancing drugs, mostly because CFLers generally can't afford them.

He wrote that Cohon's plans to develop a drug policy were senseless
and the commissioner merely "wants the drug policy so he can have the
CFL appear to be in line with similar policies in the NFL, NBA and
MLB. This desire is birthed from a feeling of inferiority with
regards to those leagues."

Yesterday, in our interview, Millington took it a step further,
saying: "It frustrates me because, in the CFL, people bitch about
having to save money, so why is Cohon wasting money on a drug policy?
I mean, the NFL has a drug policy, so the CFL has to have one? It's
ridiculous."

Millington, never afraid to speak his mind, said he knew his column
would cause a stir, but was assured on the weekend by cfl.ca editor
Josh Bell Webster it would run on the website.

"Josh said it was controversial, but that he'd go with it anyway,"
Millington said. "I don't know what happened."

The CFL, through spokesman Jamie Dykstra, refused to comment on
Millington, his column or the website.