Just Because Fake Weed Is Legal Doesn't Mean WWE Should Allow It

Wanna blame someone? Blame him.
Photo Credit: WWE.com

So, there's a growing backlash against WWE for suspending Evan Bourne for a second violation of the Wellness Policy, under the assumption that both his suspensions were for the synthetic marijuana that is sold under the brand name Spice. The problem seen here is that Spice is legal. Why should wrestlers be punished for using something that the government hasn't outlawed yet? In a way, I can sympathize with their plight, especially since I think that the real thing should not only be legal, but that employers might be prudent in acting not on positive drug tests for weed, but for visible signs of impairment (since it can be in someone's system for far long after its effects have worn off).

That being said, my personal drug philosophy is hardly ever going to be adopted by most major corporations anyway, and honestly, someone has a right to ensure that his or her company is drug free if they so choose. That's their prerogative. Even if smoking weed really wouldn't affect how a stockperson at the supermarket would do their job, I can see the skittishness of having someone who habitually uses marijuana being employed to do jobs that routinely need sharpened motor skills to perform, whether they be strenuous physical labor or something as mundane-seeming as driving a vehicle.

Not only is wrestling insanely strenuous, but it's cooperative in nature. For every story of Bret Hart being able to carry a cracked-out-of-his-mind British Bulldog through their legendary SummerSlam '92 match, there are countless others where the results haven't nearly been as optimal. Wrestling is pretty much one of the worst jobs one could do stoned out of his mind, and if synthetic marijuana has similar effects to real weed, then why should WWE allow one and discount the other one? Anyone can say what they want about the origin of the Wellness Policy, but it makes sense that if both have the same adverse effect on performance, then both should be banned, legal or illegal. To wit, alcohol is legal too, but I bet that if a wrestler showed up bombed off his/her ass, that wrestler would not be booked and would probably face ramifications for it. None of this, by the way, is even beginning to take into effect how much worse for the human body synthetic weed actually might be.

If people want to be mad at WWE for anything, it should be for the suspect circumstances of the second positive, i.e. how close it came after that first positive test Bourne had for his 30 day suspension. They shouldn't be mad at them for having it on the ban list. In fact, we should want them to make sure that wrestlers aren't using chemicals that could end up hurting themselves or other wrestlers. For God's sake, there are too many ways for these people who fake-hit each other for our amusement to end up injured beyond repair while sober. We shouldn't be angry when WWE bans something that would help do that job a lot more easily.