Here is something you should know about Wiz Khalifa before you associate your business with him—he likes marijuana. His most successful album is called Rolling Papers and he throughout his career dropped mixtapes with titles like Kush & Orange Juice and Burn After Rolling. Just this summer he dropped two more mixtapes called Pre-Rolleds and Bong Rips. He also has his own mobile video game titled Weed Farm and the marijuana strain Khalifa Kush is named after him.
For some reason, however, the MLB reprimanded the Pittsburgh Pirates for allowing Wiz Khalifa to throw the first pitch in a game this week. Why? Well, Wiz wore a shirt that said “Legalize It” and mimed the motion of puffing a joint while on the mound.
Pittsburgh's Wiz Khalifa prepares to throw out the first pitch before tonight's Pirates game against the Orioles at PNC Park. #412 #420 pic.twitter.com/EcMA6Lwi5B
— Christopher Horner (@Hornerfoto1) September 27, 2017
Okay, so maybe Wiz himself didn’t help matters there.
Here is what MLB spokesman Pat Courtney told TribLive’s Rob Biertempfel:
Marijuana is a (prohibited) substance in all of our drug programs, and it is unfortunate this situation occurred. The Pirates have informed us that this should not have happened.
But this all occurred in Pennsylvania, a state that has already legalized medical marijuana. In addition, the MLB has a rather bullish stance on marijuana anyways. Outside of the Olympics and the PGA, the MLB has the highest allowance for what any professional sports league considers a positive drug test at 50 nanograms per milliliter. (Comparatively the NBA’s is set at 15 ng/ML and the NFL just raised theirs to 35 ng/mL. Marijuana is not among the NHL’s banned substances list.)
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MLB players aren’t even tested for marijuana. The only time a major league baseball player is if there exists valid suspicion to do so. In other words, don’t store a bong at the clubhouse and you’ll probably be fine.
It all comes across as kind of hypocritical. The league’s policies are friendly to cannabis overall and teams like the Milwaukee Brewers and Colorado Rockies play at stadiums sponsored by major beer companies (Miller Park and Coors Field, respectively). This is one of those events that isn’t a big deal if it weren’t for social media and some angry tweets as TribLive included in their story.
This boils down to a simple question: You let Wiz Khalifa throw the first pitch—what else did you expect to happen?
