The hypocrisy of the minor league drug policy

It is time that MLB makes adjustments to its minor league drug policy, especially when players are being suspended for longer for smoking marijuana than for domestic violence.

On Friday, MLB announced five suspensions amongst the minor league ranks. Two of those suspensions, handed out to Reds catcher Hunter Oliver and to A’s minor leaguer Dallas Woolfolk, were due to testing positives for amphetamines. As amphetamines are also banned at the major league level, those 50 game suspensions are not that much of a surprise.

Then we come to the other three suspensions. Cardinals prospect Griffin Roberts, Red Sox minor leaguer Francisco Lopez-Soto, and Yankees prospect Alex Mauricio, all pitchers, were each suspended after testing positive for “drugs of abuse,” when in the case of Roberts and Lopez-Soto, was marijuana. Those three were also suspended 50 games in violating the minor league drug policy.

Yet, if Roberts and Lopez-Soto were in the majors, they would not need to be concerned about smoking a bowl. The MLB drug policy does not test of marijuana, letting players smoke it if they want. Other drugs are part of the policy, but not marijuana.

Then, we have the MLB policy when it comes to domestic violence. There may not be a set number of games when it comes to domestic violence, but there is a disturbing trend when it comes to the punishments. Only Jose Torres (100 games), Hector Olivera (82 games), Roberto Osuna (75 games), and Jose Reyes (51 games) were suspended for more than minor league players get for smoking pot.

Despite whatever the United States government seems to think, smoking a bit of pot is not exactly a dangerous pastime. Sparking one up leads to consuming boxes of Twinkies and spending $20 at Taco Bell. The only way it would potentially be a performance enhancing drug would be if Joey Chestnut took a few tokes before an eating contest.

Yet, sparking up is considered a more egregious offense than domestic violence. Of the 11 players to be suspended for domestic violence, seven received suspensions of less than 50 games. Addison Russell, even after the details of what he did to his ex-wife came out, only received 40 games. That is an utter disgrace.

Change does not come quickly in MLB. More often than not, policy change moves at a snail’s pace, debated and negotiated for years before anything is actually done. Yet, there are moments, such as when the domestic violence policy first came into being, that these changes can happen seemingly in an instant. This is one of those moments.

There is no way that smoking a plant is a more egregious crime than domestic violence. It is time that MLB realizes this, and changes their policy regarding marijuana for minor league players.