Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr has become a voice of reason for many when it comes to certain social issues.
Thus far, these sort of issues include the election, marijuana use and so much more.
But days after Kerr made blunt comments about marijuana use in professional sports, Phoenix Suns Earl Watson wasn’t so fond of marijuana use.
Watson made his thoughts known following Saturday’s loss to the Warriors.
“I think our rhetoric on it has to be very careful because you have a lot of kids where I’m from that’s reading this, and they think [marijuana use is] cool,” Watson told ESPN.com on Saturday. “It’s not cool. Where I’m from, you don’t get six fouls to foul out. You get three strikes. One strike leads to another. I’m just being honest with you, so you have to be very careful with your rhetoric.”
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“I think it would have to come from a physician — not a coach,” Watson said of the NBA making an exception for marijuana under its drug policy. “And for me, I’ve lived in that other life [of crime and drugs]. I’m from that area, so I’ve seen a lot of guys go through that experience of using it and doing other things with that were both illegal. And a lot of those times, those guys never make it to the NBA, they never make it to college, and somehow it leads to something else, and they never make it past 18.”
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“So when we really talk about it and we open up that, I call it that slippery slope,” he said. “We have to be very careful on the rhetoric and how we speak on it and how we express it and explain it to the youth.”
Honestly, it’s not that surprising that not all NBA coaches are like Kerr. Much like the rest of American culture, marijuana use isn’t universally agreed upon. There is still plenty of pushback.
But as many have pointed out, restricting marijuana use seems like a very tall task. Legalizations is becoming more and more prevalent. And much like the use of legal substances such as alcohol, making sure overuse doesn’t happen seems like the biggest challenge to tackle.
