Dempsey: J.J. Hickson suspended five games for drug violation

It looks like the Nuggets will be without J.J. Hickson's services for the first five games to open the 2014-2015 NBA season.

According to Chris Dempsey of the Denver Post, Hickson's violation of the league's drug policy has resulted in a five-game suspension. The suspension will last through November 7th, which means that J.J. Hickson will miss games against Kevin Durant and the Thunder, and LeBron James and the Cavaliers.

Given that Hickson is still rehabbing his ACL injury - and likely still carries the virus that causes him to play no defense - this could play out very much like Wes Welker's concussion/suspension situation with the Denver Broncos, in that this is not necessarily a bad thing. Hickson gets a little timeout to think about what a bad person he is for (allegedly) smoking some trees, the Nuggets get a few more minutes for Kenneth Faried and Quincy Miller at the PF, and Hickson's ACL breathes a sigh of relief.

According to SportingNews, a five game suspension is typically issued for a third positive test for marijuana usage. Given that the NFL recently revised its own policies on substance abuse, isn't it high time (I'm so sorry) that the NBA took a long look through the glass of the bong that so many of its players use, and relaxed a bit on suspensions for marijuana? It certainly isn't performance enhancing, and clearly players are going to use it anyway.

Your thoughts about Hickson's suspension, Nuggets fans?