Rob Van Dam was asked by Alfonso Castillo of Newsday.com back in mid-January whether WWE's policy on marijuana testing would have been an issue. "Since I don’t want to go back to the full-time schedule anyway, it’s kind of hard to answer if, in addition to not wanting to go back, I would also not want to go back and apply to all of their conditions. I’d have to want to do it, and if I wanted to do it bad enough to not promote or advocate marijuana or whatever, it would depend on what it was worth to me if I was wanting to do that – which I’m not...

"...So, for WWE, they’re just like a small society. They’ve got their own set of laws, their own set of rules. And on the wellness program, marijuana is definitely different than if you test positive for anything else on their list. But still it has a very hefty fine with it. And it’s, unfortunately, turning the boys away from marijuana and turning them away from any pain relievers, and saying, 'Alcohol is OK.' It’s just like the SuperBowl will tell you – 'Drink, drink, drink.'"

Van Dam also explained why he didn't feel obligated to take part in the WWE Tribute to the Troops show. "I don’t feel obligated to go somewhere that I don’t want to go," he said. "I really don’t enjoy flying anyway. When I do these bookings now I have to fly business class or first class. If I’m in economy, it takes five minutes of sitting on that plane, where I can’t even reach my own feet, until I’m miserable and my back hurts. And I did that already.

"I did that for a long time. So to get on a – what – a 20 hour flight on a flying warehouse that might not even have a bathroom or seats, or whatever, to go to a desert and wrestle, which by the way, I had no passion for and was only doing out of business. To do that voluntarily in a war zone to entertain those troops? I never felt the obligation.

"I’m glad that they get entertainment out there. I don’t feel their life has suffered in quality because RVD hasn’t been there, but they go tot meet John Cena and whoever else. I think that everyone else is doing it is fine. But I never felt like in addition of what they’re getting they also have to have my participation." To read more, you can sign up for membership at Newsday.com.

Powell's POV: WWE wrestlers are fined $2,500 for a failed marijuana test, but it does not count as a strike against them in the Wellness Policy. Van Dam has been a vocal spokesman for medicinal marijuana and has stated repeatedly that it helped his wife Sonya during her chemotherapy sessions to treat colon cancer. As for Tribute to the Troops, as much as I respect those who take part in the show every year, I also don't feel that wrestlers should feel obligated to go.

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