"Sports should go green, allow pot smoking"

[Auggie]

Gwen Knapp, S.F. Chronicle Staff Writer, Thursday, February 12, 2009:

Weed, the Breakfast of Champions.

I've been waiting a long time - 11 years to be exact - for the sports world to seize on that concept, but no one's had the guts. Now, far later than I expected, we've entered pot's perfect storm.

Just as the economy has tanked, strangling sponsorships all over the athletic map, a Super Bowl MVP and the most decorated Olympian of all time have emerged as partakers. Advocates for drug reform have long said that legalizing marijuana would increase tax revenue, not to mention reduce violence in the dealer population. In sports, the door would open for a cash flow to fill the creek bed left dry by a shriveling General Motors, Citigroup and their ilk.

<snip>

Common sense says that athletes shouldn't be punished for pot any more than they would be if they ran a red light. Creative thinking says that the sports leagues should lobby for legalization and then treat the stuff like Gatorade or Budweiser. Call it the greening of athletics, which it will be, as soon as the checks clear.

Link: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/02/12/SP9O15S2H6.DTL
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It appears the author is suggesting that legalization will lead to the creation of pot "brands", and therefore, advertising and sponsorship revenue. Wow.