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Michael Jordan dropped a truth bomb about the NBA and its relationship with performance-enhancing drugs. In the league's early days, players tended to rely on drugs as it was rampant in society, making it acceptable to use them.
Marvin R. Shanken sat down with the Chicago Bulls legend in 2005. In the interview, they talked about Jordan's basketball journey and how it shaped him. From his playing days back at North Carolina to making it big and winning championships with the Bulls, they covered it all.
Midway through, the question shifted to a more serious tone. Jordan was asked about the players' use of steroids while actively playing in the league.
"Drugs have been in the game for a long time," Jordan said. "They were there when I was in college, and even in high school.
"There is some drug awareness out there. I must admit, it's still prevalent. But it's not worse. They've tried in the NBA to implement some provisions to monitor drug use, to eliminate it and totally get rid of it. To some degree, it is working
"Drug use was hidden in a lot of sports a long time ago. Now it's out in the open, be it steroids in baseball or steroids in football. Steroids have never been prevalent in professional basketball. But you got a lot of marijuana smoking and drug use like cocaine. All that stuff has been in the NBA."
Be it illegal or legal drugs, there have been many cases where players were seen or admitted to using certain substances. Nowadays, the use of marijuana has been acceptable to the masses. Players like J.R. Smith, Al Harrington and Stephen Jackson all openly admitted to smoking weed.
Also read: John Starks recalls the New York Knicks’ scouting report on Michael Jordan: “Good luck”
Michael Jordan made it clear that he wasn't encouraged with his teammates using drugs
In 2020, Netflix released a documentary series about the final season of Michael Jordan with the Bulls. The 10-episode docu-series, "The Last Dance," featured a closer look at what the team's locker room was like, Scottie Pippen's beef with Jerry Krause and the early years of Jordan in the NBA.
When he was drafted in 1984, MJ was a 21-year-old looking to make an impact on the court. However, he was discouraged by some of his teammates' way of spending their free time. He witnessed how rampant the use of drugs was and shared his discomfort in the documentary.
"I had one event, preseason, I think we were in Peoria (Illinois)," Jordan said. "It was in a hotel, so I'm trying to find my teammates. So, I start knocking on doors. I get to this one door, and I knock on the door, and I can hear someone says, 'Shh, someone's outside.' And then you hear this deep voice, someone says, 'Who is it?' I said, 'MJ.'
"So, they open up the door. I walk in, and practically the whole team was in there. And it was like, things I've never seen in my life as a young kid. You got your lines (of cocaine) over here. You got your weed smokers over here. You got your women over here.
"So, the first thing I said, 'Look, man, I'm out.' Because all I could think about was if they come and raid this place right about now. I'm just as guilty as everybody else that's in this room. And from that point on, I was more or less on my own."
