ESPN analyst Cris Carter is apparently a drug expert in addition to being a Hall of Fame wide receiver, because he thinks he knows what drug Chandler Jones was using before the Patriots defensive end’s infamous medical emergency over the weekend.
In an appearance on “Mike and Mike in the Morning” Friday, Carter said he does not buy the reports of Jones smoking synthetic marijuana. He believes the alleged freakout was caused by PCP.
Cris Carter speculating on Chandler Jones "I think he was smoking marijuana laced with PCP" pic.twitter.com/2rMXIdRdUU
— gifdsports (@gifdsports) January 15, 2016
“The synthetic marijuana story might be just a story,” Carter said. “For me, it don’t pass the smell test. I think he was smoking marijuana, and I think he was smoking some marijuana laced with PCP or angel dust. And that’s what made him trip out.”
Like anyone else, Carter is entitled to his opinion. But this is ignorance in its most basic form — especially when he started comparing Jones to a convicted murderer:
“If you look at — this is not the same thing, so don’t freak out on me, people — but Aaron Hernandez, if you look at what was some of the things they started looking at with him” Carter said. “At the end, he was smoking marijuana laced with PCP. And that’s when the people around him said you can start to see, it started making a difference in his decision making. So, did he have that? No. I’m just trying to tell you what I believe could be the end result, because that’s what happens.”
While we’re not defending Jones and we have no idea what happened, accusing Jones of using the same drug Aaron Hernandez and his buddies supposedly used is completely irresponsible. Why? Because the National Institute on Drug Abuse states that synthetic marijuana has been known to cause altered perception, psychosis, extreme anxiety, paranoia, confusion and hallucinations among other reactions. When you read the crazy details from the incident report involving Jones, what exactly makes you conclude that he could not have been using synthetic marijuana based on the above description of the drug?
Keep in mind that Ole Miss star Robert Nkemdiche is rumored to have been using synthetic marijuana before he allegedly became paranoid and broke through a hotel window.
Again, we have no idea what Jones was using. But it should also be noted that, while clearly an idiotic substance to use, synthetic marijuana is legal in many towns. Jumping to the conclusion that Jones was using PCP or angel dust seems like a pretty big leap to make before all of the details come out.
As we know, Carter has made a living off of making outlandish statements. This seems pretty consistent with that.
