Picture of Hemp leaf = Marijuana = Illegal, immoral, evil?

[jumpusa]

picture of Hemp Leaf = Illegality, Immorality, Evil, etc.

Do you agree? Read this discussion:

Michael G. Oddo writes: What’s with the “Hemp Hoop Net” featuring the marijuana leaf logo? Are you a sports conditioning info and product source, or a head shop? Are illegal drugs now on a serious athlete’s training table? Come on. . . Clean it up. Sports and young athletes, including basketballers, have enough trouble fighting drugs and steroids and other influences without JumpUSA joining the bad guys’ side. Michael G. Oddo, Henry Oddo Austin & Fletcher, P.C. Dallas, Texas 75201

John Kim of JumpUSA writes: No argument, marijuana is bad. The way M.Oddo perceives it, picture of Hemp leaf = Marijuana = Illegal, immoral, evil, etc. Therefore, picture of Hemp leaf = bad. Calling all MyJumpSpace'ers: Which way do you see it? Is a picture of the hemp leaf an incongruous and inappropriate way to represent a basketball net which happens to be made out of the material? Or has the picture of the leaf been unfortunately and unfairly stereotyped with a negative value judgement?

Anyone, please chime in with your thoughts.
ps. also vote on the issue on the main page.

[athleteadvocate]

John,

I think the poll misstates the issue. The average young person, unless he or she worked in the textile industry, would not identify the leaf as a "hemp leaf." The clear connection between "weed" and basketball is the obvious and bad connection here.

All you b-ballers and other young aspiring athletes that read this, check with the NCAA, your high school sports governing bodies, the NBA, WNBA, NFL, USTF, AAU, USOC, MLB, NHL, PGA, LPGA, etc., etc., and ask if they permit a marijuana leaf logo to be associated in any way with their organizations. Or even a hemp leaf logo. You already know the answer.

John, you have missed an opportunity to declare in yet another forum that drugs and success in sports do not mix. There are many pro athletes that have served or are serving drug suspensions that wish they heeded that message. And there many, many more young people who had no chance to see the pro ranks because drugs took them down first.

And now, a word from Shakespeare: "“What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." Pot smells like pot, even when you call it "hemp." And pot makes the user unmotivated, unfocused, not in full control of thought or action -- the exact opposite of what a Jump Soles athlete-in-training should be all about.

[jumpusa]

drugs and success in sports do not mix

Absolutely agree, and well spoken. I hope that's the main takeaway message anyone gets when they read this discussion. To be "devil's" advocate however, No mention of other synonyms "weed", "marijuana" were in the visual. Hemp was clearly stated in bold next to the picture. There's no ambiguity and one need not have a deep knowledge of textiles. The connection was clearly made for the reader, i.e. Here's a hemp leaf. This is what goes into making this basketball net. My main pause for thought is how this element of nature - a leaf - a visual element - has gotten to be so provocative. The leaf, visually distinctive because of its multi-lobes, has gotten inextricably linked to drug abuse. The leaf can be abused, yet the leaf also goes into making some very durable, high performance fiber products. A standard basketball net made of nylon which is an oil product. Picture this: a drum barrel of oil in place of the hemp leaf. Which symbol is more obscene?

"What's in a name?" Yes. It seems certain symbols can elicit very strong reactions. How about a swastika? A farfetched scenario, but put a swastika in the picture instead of the leaf with the headline: "Basketball Net Woven and blessed by the Reknowned Holy Monks of Lahore India". It turns out that for all the historic Nazi evil the swastika symbolizes for many around the world, the swastika's bad press flies in the face of its respectability in many other parts of the world. Indians anoint their homes, cows and shrines with the swastika, while Tibetan monks are tattooed with it and the Dalai Lama's throne is always decorated with four swastikas. Here is a symbol that was for centuries associated with things peaceful and good, all to be hijacked later by evil people. A rose is a rose is a rose, but a dozen different people can have a dozen different interpretations of that same rose. And so with that funny looking leaf. It can hurt you, or it can be useful to you. Just don't smoke it or ingest it.

[Brandon R. Richards]

wow what two great points! but im not gonna lie, when i seen it i was thinking damn, i wonder what is gonna happen when im shootin so good the net catches on fire! Everyone is gonna get high! lol