This week, there was an article in the news about a professional soccer player, the captain of the team actually, who got caught through a drug test for smoking marijuana. What was interesting about this article to me, was the way the Players’ Union handled the issue. He wasn’t just thrown out and told not to come back.

There are preset rules in the league that deal with drug abuse. Not only a way to deter use, but a way to help the players through, should they find themselves faced with drug addiction issues.

The soccer player was drug tested, which is a bi-annual, no prior notice procedure, administered to everyone in the league. An independent company tests the players for common street drugs like heroin, cocaine, marijuana as well as performance enhancing drugs.

Instead of throwing players out of the league for testing positively, they have the option to attend a drug rehab program. Then, after successful completion, they can play again. To me, it’s truly a winning solution. And, I think a lot of people would benefit from this type of program in many different work-based scenarios. The player who got busted is through his time in rehab and back to doing what he loves, playing soccer.

Rather than throwing someone out, which doesn’t help the situation at hand, they are assisted. And while marijuana seems like a fairly harmless, non-addictive drug to a lot of people, it is illegal and many, many people enter drug rehab to battle the havoc it causes in their lives.

President Obama is currently working on a new anti-drug strategy. I really hope this headline makes its way to his desk. Perhaps it could be a positive addition to what he’s working on to clean up America. We need all the help we can get!

Popularity: 2% [?]