There have been stories across the news over the past few days, including this one from CBS Sports about how superstar Kevin Durant walked into a meeting with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver to lobby for removing marijuana testing from the league’s protocols. Durant is a vocal proponent of using cannabis.
He was quoted as saying:
Well, he (Adam Silver) just smelled it when I walked in, so I didn’t really have to say much. He kind of understood where this was going. It’s the NBA, everybody does it, to be honest. It’s like wine at this point.
– Kevin Durant
So this revelation leads a curious Older Stoner to wonder whether sixty-one year old Commissioner Silver simply knows what cannabis smells like (from navigating the streets of Manhattan or being around lots of athletes), or whether he actually partakes himself? Given his age, Silver was a teen in the 1970’s ( just about the time that many high schoolers began experimenting with marijuana. Although it wasn’t legal, its use was widespread and not overtly discouraged in many communities.
I don’t know the answer and obviously it’s both immaterial and none of anyone’s business, but the fact that there is now acceptance of marijuana by the folks who run the NBA is noteworthy to say the least.
Besides being very popular with players, this is a stark departure from years’s past when the NBA routinely tested for cannabis and suspended those who were in violation of their rules for consuming. As you can see from this link in Wikipedia, the list of players who were suspended or banned from the league for using cannabis is quite extensive.
It’s well known that many NBA players consume marijuana. That’s been the case for decades. In fact, High Times Magazine even put together a list of the “All Stoner NBA Team” back in 2016.