Dallas Cowboys News: Jerry Jones Wants NFL To Stop Testing For Marijuana Use

Even though the saga of Tony Romo has been in the spotlight for the Dallas Cowboys, there is much more going on with team owner Jerry Jones. Everyone thought that there would be some kind of decision made on the veteran quarterback at the NFL owner meetings last week, but that simply didn’t happen. Still, Jones is back in the focus of league matters as he is now stating that the NFL should really stop prohibiting players’ use of marijuana.

The NFL meetings had a number of different topics discussed, and not all of them have been made public as of yet. With a week having gone by since they took place in Arizona, some of the information is starting to become known and one of the interesting things brought up is the league’s position on marijuana use.

As reported by Pro Football Talk, the Cowboys owner is the one who brought up the question, and he believes the NFL should no longer prohibit the use of marijuana.

Jerry Jones believes that it shouldn’t be against league rules for the players in the NFL to use marijuana, but it may not be so simple to drop it. The problem is that he may not have remembered that marijuana use and the rules against it for NFL players falls more under the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) and not so much the league.

The NFL advised Pro Football Talk that if there were to ever be any changes to the substance abuse policy of the NFL, it would have to come through labor negotiations. On top of that, the NFL would have to be willing to listen to the medical community regarding possible changes to the marijuana use or any other drug use rule.

In the past, the Cowboys have had to deal with a number of marijuana-related suspensions of different players. Rolando McClain, Randy Gregory, and DeMarcus Lawrence have all missed practice time and games due to being in violation of the NFL’s substance abuse policy and that certainly didn’t sit well with Jones or the franchise.

Sports Day also reported that Jones would like the NFL to discontinue investigations of off-field situations and legal troubles. He believes that off-field misconduct should not be handled by the league which has become overly involved since the Ray Rice incident a couple of years ago.

Second-year running back Ezekiel Elliott is currently under investigation by the NFL due to a number of off-field situations including alleged domestic violence. Depending on what comes about from this investigation, it could end up resulting in a rather lengthy suspension for last year’s league-leading rusher.

Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys are coming off one of the most successful seasons in a long time, and right now, they don’t need any negative attention. All of the things that were brought up at the NFL meetings could end up coming to light in the future, but it would take a lot of time and some doing.

As if Jones hadn’t brought up enough at the meetings, he was the person who suggested that all owners be involved in the next contract of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. He remains in favor of Goodell, but wanted to make his thoughts known.

The Dallas Cowboys have had a number of issues with some of their players and marijuana use over the years, but what team hasn’t? Jerry Jones really does believe that the NFL should do away with prohibiting the use of marijuana by players and that the testing of it should come to a stop. Other team owners are in agreement with him on the drug issue, and there could be changes there, but the NFL isn’t likely to stop doing its own off-field investigations.

[Featured Image by Joe Robbins/Getty Images]