By Ben Goodman ’16, Sports Editor

It was a rough September for the NFL, which reached its nadir in the last two weeks with the Ray Rice domestic violence scandal. Additionally, with poster-boy Adrian Peterson’s child abuse case and perpetual arguments over player safety and player conduct, the league has felt the heat, from football fanatics to feminist advocates to students and faculty in our own Newark Academy community. Commissioner Roger Goodell soldiers on; however, albeit to the dismay of many, and, slipping under the radar in the previous month’s tumult, was his monumental new drug policy agreement with the NFL Players’ Association (NFLPA). It mostly eases drug-based penalties and emphasizes fairness of investigations, culminating years of complaints from players who believed the old system to be harsh and misguided and are celebrating a substantial victory. Even so, some backlash has been raised, with critics debating how the deal, particularly the marijuana policy, will affect player conduct: is it a step in the right direction, or a misstep down a slippery slope?

The new pact is multi-faceted and does not uniformly ease discipline. It introduces widespread HGH testing (HGH is a type of performance-enhancing drug,) and also stiffens DUI consequences, setting an unsalaried two-week suspension as the bare minimum punishment. All the same, the bulk of the conversation has centered on the NFL’s policy for marijuana use. Since the Reagan-inspired war on drugs in the 1980s, the league has cracked down on marijuana, testing players randomly and frequently and then levying suspensions upon those guilty.

Players voiced their frustration, like former-Steeler now-Redskin Ryan Clark, who said last February, “Guys are still gonna use it (marijuana)… (The NFL) is fighting a losing battle.” Now, the threshold over which garners a positive test for the NFL has been raised from 15 ng/ml up to 35 ng/ml, and additionally, a “strike” system has been implemented. Basically, a player is warned the first time, pays increasing fines the second and third times, and is finally suspended four games the fourth time. An early manifestation of the new policy is that players, like receiver Wes Welker, who had been suspended for having less than 35 ng/ml of marijuana in their system are now reinstated.

In the Newark Academy community, in which any use or possession of marijuana on campus warrants immediate expulsion, the reaction to the NFL’s new policy varies. Elias Neibart ‘16, for one, applauded what in his mind was a leap of progress for a scrutinized, maligned league. “I’m glad the NFL took common-sense steps to reform their stringent drug policy,” he stated, hoping that the new deal will serve as a dress rehearsal to actually eliminating any marijuana testing whatsoever.

Paige Cooper ’16 agreed, adding, “In no way does marijuana affect how players play on Sunday, so it shouldn’t be punished severely by a football league.”

Aidan Fox ‘16 admitted that the old policy was excessive, but he feels the NFL has in his words “overcompensated,” saying “The fact that professional athletes can now get caught with marijuana three times and get a slap in the wrist each time is ridiculous.” His lambasting continued, as he predicted the easing of punishment will only worsen the league’s current PR disaster. Of course, the dichotomous nature of these two different arguments is predictable, since the two sides are also tacitly debating whether marijuana is a harmful, harmless, or even helpful substance. Yet, Fox looked beyond the scope of marijuana and focused on what he believes to be a major factor the NFL has overlooked. “The NFL,” he proclaimed, “is grossly understating the significance of breaking the law.”

It is indeed ironic that a player outside Washington or Colorado still cannot legally use marijuana; he will be pursued less by the NFL than by his state government. Even as new studies show that marijuana may not pose as severe a risk as the 1980s generation was taught, the NFL needs to consider how its policies relate to the actual law of the country and how its policies might appear to fans. Students (and football fans) at Newark Academy sense an air of hypocrisy, undoubtedly, as it seems the Academy and the NFL strongly disagree about marijuana.