Coaches Medical Marijuana

[gralch1]

A couple of my coach buddies and I recently got into a debate. I would like to hear from coaches in those states where MM is legal.
Being how MM is still against federal law, how would you feel about an employee using?
Do you know of any coaches using MM? If you have a coach with a prescription would you keep it from your parents and other staff?
Legally, if a coach is taking their prescription at home and not while working could you fire them? Assuming you do not see any evidence of use while on the job. Kind of like a coach having a few cocktails in the evening after work.
Certainly I can't imagine allowing a coach to spot or run practice while high. Too many bad things can happen quickly and you need to have absolute concentration. We had a rec coach that we gave the choice to drug test or quit after smelling suspicious odors. (Of course, he quit)
How would you know for sure if a coach was 100% able to provide a safe environment for your kids?
Also I am sure USAG would not like this at all!

 

[BlairBob]

On their own time I wouldn't care.

Being even toked up a little bit on shift is asking for an insurance nightmare should an accident occur. I can't imagine reacting quickly as even being around marijuana smoke makes me fuzzy ( I can remember trying to work on a few computers at a friend's house after navigating through the cloud ).

Everyonce in awhile, parents and kid will complain if a coach smells like cigarette smoke. I'm not sure if the young ones could detect pot smoke but I'm pretty sure other parents would and would ask to talk to the manager or owner. That's a PR mess. I know of one gym that ended up firing A LOT of their staff because there was a rumor going around that during parties staff members attended their had been underage drinking and the gym was worried about their image.

 

[gymdog]

I think this would be highly dependent on a case by case basis. There are so many possibilities here. A lot would just depend on the individual specifics.

 

[raenndrops]

I think it would only be even marginally ok it the coach was doing what I have been doing lately (a "bench" coach... nothing hands-on, definitely no spotting). They would have to have a valid prescription and shower before coming to the gym.
They would have to make sure they didn't smell of it because:
1- some of the older kids WOULD know the smell
2- parents would know the smell
3- some people are highly allergic to even the SMELL of pot (I have an allergy to it. People are told that they cannot use on our property or when they are coming over. One friend thought she could cover the smell with body spray... I had a severe asthma attack from the combination, lol)

 

[BlairBob]

Had to post this. I'll go back to being serious later.

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

I'd probably treat it the same way I'd treat cigarrettes or alcohol; they can do it on their own time if they like, but when they arrive at the gym they need to be stone-cold sober without a whiff of it on them.

 

[gymdog]

If they like? Are we talking about recreational use, or a valid medical use (some of which doesn't involve smoking or getting high, incidentally. The "charlotte's web" strain being used to treat seizures is given as an oil).

That said, because of the difficulty in getting and using these treatments, most people who do so are very sick and likely aren't considering actively coaching gymnastics during their treatment. So it's fairly pointless anyway, as it's pretty unlikely any of us will ever truly deal with this conundrum.

Most likely if you're using MM as say a chemo relief treatment, you're too sick to coach gymnastics at that point.

 

[raenndrops]

If they like? Are we talking about recreational use, or a valid medical use (some of which doesn't involve smoking or getting high, incidentally. The "charlotte's web" strain being used to treat seizures is given as an oil).

That said, because of the difficulty in getting and using these treatments, most people who do so are very sick and likely aren't considering actively coaching gymnastics during their treatment. So it's fairly pointless anyway, as it's pretty unlikely any of us will ever truly deal with this conundrum.

Most likely if you're using MM as say a chemo relief treatment, you're too sick to coach gymnastics at that point.

One of the coaches in our league is going through chemo... she has only missed one meet this year (and their team opted out of going to Nationals because she is the HC and they didn't want to go without her). I do not know what she is using for chemo relief, but ...

 

[Aussie_coach]

Under no circumstances would I find that acceptable. If they suffered from a condition that required them to use it I would not feel they were medically fit to coach.

This would impair their judgement and could end catastrophically for a child.

A few years ago in Australia a girl died as a result of a training injury and it was found she had been using marijuana. She rebounded back off the end of a tumble trak after completing a full and smashed her head into the concrete. Sure the gym was liable because there should have been a mat there but if she had not been on the drug her years of training may have kicked in to control her landing.

 

[gymdog]

That's great that your coach is doing well. But some people are extremely, extremely sick when they go through chemo. It can be very painful and some people I know have gotten relief from MM. Cancer takes many different forms and treatments though and some are more invasive than others.

Honestly even if someone is using it for relief then feels well enough to go to work I really don't think id care if it was a person I'd generally trust. But everyone I've known personally was too sick to really work in a day to day capacity while using it. Some people do use it for every day treatment of conditions like epilepsy and cerebral palsy. But again, they aren't always smoking it. And unfortunately most people with conditions like CP and epilepsy don't end up gymnastics coaches. It's difficult to manage in a job like this on a day to day basis. However in some cases MM does alleviate their symptoms to the point they can go from struggling to function to being stable enough that they could be employed. But again, likely not as a gymnastics coach. In another job.

These treatments aren't legal everywhere and have basically left these people refugees in certain states, which they can't leave and take their drugs with them. Yet equally powerful pharmaceuticals are legal throughout the country. Where do you draw the line, assuming all things equal (which is hypothetical because in most states MM is not equal to pharmaceuticals, it's a schedule 1 drug)? Is someone on powerful pharmaceuticals bit safe to coach either? It's a case by case basis.

By the way, I've never so much as seen this drug in real life, much less touched it. I have no ailments it could help. But I have seen and met some people who have made me think, especially in light of increasingly powerful psychoactive pharmaceuticals. Something just doesn't seem right about that.

 

[gymdog]

A few years ago in Australia a girl died as a result of a training injury and it was found she had been using marijuana. She rebounded back off the end of a tumble trak after completing a full and smashed her head into the concrete. Sure the gym was liable because there should have been a mat there but if she had not been on the drug her years of training may have kicked in to control her landing.

Interesting. I looked into this case and the claim seems suspect. Do you have firsthand knowledge of this case or the victim?

http://gymnasticscoaching.com/new/2009/06/details-on-gymnastics-death-in-australia/

Of course it would be dangerous to participate in any gymnastics activity while actively high. But having traces of marijuana doesn't mean she was actively high at the time.

The attempt to blame her was a defense tactic. The club was found to be at fault. There should have been a mat. They also said she intentionally jumped back even though she knew she shouldn't? Huh.

Doesn't sound like it was anything more than a dangerous set up. Someone did something very common (bounced off a resi - happens all the time, literally) and there was exposed concrete due to a missing safety mat.

So again I guess I don't see why it wouldn't be handled on a case by case basis, but isn't likely to be an issue. It could be shady or totally legit.