Social organization decries Faulk suspension, appealing to Goodell today

By Os Davis  |   Friday, September 05, 2008  |  Comments( 7 )

New England Patriots
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On behalf of the suspended Kevin Faulk, national marijuana policy reform organization SAFER will today appeal to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell by means of online petition and official letter for changes to the league's marijuana policy.

Commentary: Faulk will be sitting out the New England Patriots’ opener against the Kansas City Chiefs and docked two games’ pay (estimated at about $300,000) because of a suspension handed down in late August. The Patriot was busted at the Lafayette, La., Cajundome while attending a Lil’ Wayne concert on a misdemeanor possession charge when a search turned up four “marijuana cigarettes.” Faulk pleaded no contest, maintaining that the blunts came from the owner of the jacket; in fact, Faulk took and passed a drug test within days after the arrest. In July, Faulk was given a five-month suspended sentence, one year of probation, 40 hours of community service, and 20 hours of “NFL-approved substance-abuse treatment.”

Some may recall Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation as the organization which first kinda sorta appeared on the fringes of NFL football consciousness back in October of last year; then, executive director Mason Tvert gained SAFER a bit of national publicity with a Denver Bronco-orange billboard just outside Invesco Field in appealing to the hometown to pick up beleaguered Ricky Williams.

Since then, the NFL’s marijuana policy has been something of a pet project for 26-year-old Tvert and SAFER, alongside various work the group does with issues related to medical marijuana and general decriminalization. As SAFER sees it, the heart of the issue lies in the fairly obvious hypocrisy exhibited by the NFL: “The NFL has no problem with players using alcohol and it accepts hundreds of millions of dollars to promote booze to football fans of all ages," said SAFER executive director Mason Tvert. "Yet the league punishes those players who make the safer choice to use marijuana instead of alcohol to relax and recreate. The NFL is driving its players to drink."

Tvert adds that “It is a mystery why Commissioner Goodell and the NFL would want to steer the biggest, toughest guys in the country away from using marijuana and toward using alcohol, which contributes to aggressive behavior and countless violent crimes."

A representative from the organization is scheduled to hand-deliver SAFER’s letter of protest to Goodell’s office in New York at 11 a.m. local time on Friday, and the online petition will remain active.

Fan pulse: Most football fans, Pat backers or no, seem to be lamenting the silliness of Faulk’s arrest and subsequent suspension for such a minuscule offense. Though key to the Patriot offense (hey, he’s been scoring TDs in New England since the first Super Bowl win), Faulk is hardly an every-down player and so the issue is not reaching the levels of outrage that might benefit SAFER and greater society.

Also, by the way, Bill Belichick knew this would happen all along...

Fantasy football impact: Those with Laurence Maroney, already hoping for a career year from the dreadlocked one, will benefit from the league’s arcane policy; in Faulk’s absence, Maroney could see five to 10 more carries and seems the best bet outside of Randy Moss to put up a TD for the Patriots.
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About Os Davis

Os Davis has taken a twisted route to get to RealFootball365.com in his nearly 17 years in professional writing, working in any number of capacities in the sportswriting, news reporting and film criticism worlds. In print media, Os has served as editor at a few publications, including Albuquerque's ...
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