By Kia Tyus

Marijuana use has increased a lot not only in sports, but also in everyday life of the average citizen. A popular trend has started with many professional athletes testing positive for marijuana use.

Larry Sanders plays in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Milwaukee Bucks. Currently, Sanders is serving a 10-game suspension without pay for testing positive for marijuana. This is not the first time Sanders has tested positive for marijuana. In fact, Sanders uses marijuana on a regular basis.

Recently, Sanders has been having a revelation about his life. He is now realizing that he needs to find a different way to handle his personal issues without the use of marijuana.

The Bucks have been holding up just fine without Sanders, who by the way is known for his defensive efforts. Sander’s is starting to realize that he may not even get the opportunity to return to the Bucks.

In 2013, Sanders signed a four-year $44 million contract extension. The article states, because of the recent success of the Bucks, the new ownership and new coaches may consider a buyout of Sanders contract. That would give Sanders some money but would leave him without a job.

Personally, I feel like a 10-game suspension is not enough punishment for Saunders. Every professional athlete is well aware of what they can and can’t consume in their bodies. To me, professional athletes feel entitled that the laws don’t apply to them. I feel in part, that this is the authorities fault because they continue to give celebrities a slap on the wrist.

As stated above, a 10-game suspension is not enough. In the NBA that is a little over two weeks. I feel a punishment should be given out to make professional athletes never want to break drug laws ever again.

Many readers who are reading this article may think that, a harsher punishment is not valid. Some of those reasons may be because it is a player’s first offence or even that is could affect the winning percentage of their favorite team. But, in all honesty, rules are rules.

I feel if players start receiving harsher punishments it would reduce the amount of professional athletes testing positive for marijuana.

In the case of Saunders, he has dealt with numerous injuries throughout his career. For any athlete that can affect your mental state. I would suggest counseling for Saunders and if he gets another chance in the NBA, I would suggest he also gets a road therapist to help keep his mind off of smoking marijuana.