Alright, Cheryl is right, I was a bit hard on Martavis.
regarding this... You're wrong. Absolutely wrong. Pot is extraordinarily addicting. In fact, studies show that pot users develop behavioral patterns that are extremely difficult to break out of. Pot acts differently on the body than other drugs. It stores up in fat cells and releases very slowly. That's why you don't get your crazy "withdrawal" symptoms that apparently you feel are the necessary precursor to "addiction". Instead, pot can release very slowly over time. As such a long term user has a very subtle but strong craving for pot the never quite goes away. Because it stays in their system for so darn long. (And that's just the physiological side of the drug.)
The psychological aspects of pot addiction are also significant. An entire lifestyle is built around use. That lifestyle is extremely hard to break free of.
So, in that respect one must appreciate how difficult it would be for a young person like Martavis to shed his addiction. (And he IS addicted. This is also one of the major reasons that pot is NOT a harmless drug. While pot does have many beneficial effects for people, it also has quite a few negative aspects as well. Thus, pot really should NOT be legalized for recreational use. Medicinally, fine. A Dr. can certainly determine those cases were pot can help a patient and how it can best be administered.
Alcohol, ironically, while also a very dangerous drug has clearer signals of overuse and clears out of your system more quickly. Booze burns hot and quickly in the human metabolism. Good or bad, there it is. I won't argue that there are a great many traffic collisions caused by alcohol. Of course pot also causes traffic collisions, but there is less data regarding pot usage on the road as pot usage is only now becoming widely accepted. There will be more and more pot-related incidents now that the drug is becoming more publicly accepted.
But I digress. Am I disappointed in Byrant? Of course. Did I expect him to avoid issues with his pot addiction? Not at all. I was completely aware that he is a hopeless addict and that unless he sought out serious help he wasn't going to be able to resolve his addiction problems. Alcohol and pot addiction quite often go hand in hand with depression. I wouldn't be surprised if he IS depressed. Quite likely the pot is either coping mechanism or a causation. Either way, self-medicating is not the answer. If he's depressed he needs to seek the proper medical and psychiatric treatment ahead of time rather than offer the diagnosis as an excuse for his addiction issues. That merely comes off as the excuse it truly is.
Again, hard honesty is Bryant's only friend right now. I do believe the Steeler's should retain him, at minimum contract price. If somebody wants to sign him after his contract expires at a higher rate, super. Let them. In the meantime, I would recommend that the Steelers require Bryant to attend AA/NA meetings as a requirement of his contract weekly paychecks upon his return to the team and active practices and games. If he doesn't like it, he can go elsewhere. While he may consider that unfair, that would be the addiction talking. The kid needs help and he clearly can't provide it himself. He hasn't hit the bottom. I sincerely doubt the "check in to rehab" is anything more than a PR move to attempt to salvage what's left of his career at this point. If the Steelers truly wish to help him do so, they need to help him realize that THEY at least take his addiction situation seriously.
That's my opinion anyway. He is gifted, but that and .50 cents will buy him some coffee at his next AA meeting. And that's the cold hard truth from a fellow who grew up with two recovering alcoholic parents who didn't stop drinking until I was 7 or 8. You have to lose a whole lot before you realize your life is just too ****** to continue the way it is and that there's some stuff more important than today. Bryant needs some help focusing on a whole bunch of tomorrows down the line. A HUGE part of the problem is people telling him pot just isn't that big a deal.
Well, pretty clearly it's a pretty big ******* deal to Bryant.
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