Last night I was bored...tonight I have a migrane. I hope the two aren't related.

With all the meds I have been popping to keep my pain managable, it has made me think about the ability to function in a productive manner while drugged. I, for one, have spent the day wanting nothing more than a nap.....and a bag of anything chocolate. I haven't indulged in either, but it did make me leave work early and head home to sit in relative silence for a little while as three motrin and a Coke kicked in. (Coca Cola that is....just to be clear).

One of the things I did do was listen to Sirius as I drove to and from work. The main topic seems to be the situation Aaron Fike has found himself in.

I don't know about you, but I don't want to be parked next to a guy who is high on heroin, much less going in circles on an enclosed track at 190 mph. I know, Aaron is innocent until proven guilty, but it makes me ponder, why in the hell would anyone want to do something so stupid that so obviously would kill a promising career?

I asked that same question with Shane Hmeil, Kevin Grubb and Tyler Walker. Why do kids not learn the lessons from thier errant peers and avoid falling into the same pit they have?

All of these young men were talented drivers. All had the opportunity to make a name for themselves on the track.

All squandered it for the simple chance to get high.

I have made a handful of hot laps on two different tracks. Neither were up to race speed, but they were plenty fast to get the adrenaline running. I have heard driver after driver in the sport say that the adrenaline rush kicks in week after week, giving them the kind of feeling they wouldn't trade for the world. No drugs involved.

NASCAR's Substance Abuse Policy allows NASCAR to administer drug tests virtually anytime, anywhere, based only on 'reasonable su####ion'. There is no driver's union to prevent such tests. So why, if you know that the official with the little cup could walk up to you any time and say "pee in this", would you take the chance to whizz away your career?

That said, drug testing is not required week in and week out. From what I understand, it mainly happens when a driver or crewmember shows signs that something is amiss, either by acting erraticaly or crashing on seemingly simple qualifying laps (as was Hmeil's final straw). the majority of people in a NASCAR garage wont stand for knowing someone they might have to share asphalt with is on something during the race weekend. The people who work in the garage work together week in and week out for 40+ weeks a year. When something is amiss, they know about it. If they don't want to be damaged by it, they will report it.

So why is it, that these young men felt they could skirt the drug policy and get away with it?

A recovering heroin addict wrote into the Morning Drive on Sirius Thursday morning and described heroin as a necessity to a user. It isn't something like marijuana that you can take once in a while for a high; it is a daily need to be able to function. It is an immediately addictive drug, and the results of being without it are not pretty. Uncontrolable shakes, sweats, blurred vision. The writer explained that if Fike is indeed found to have taken heroin, then he has likely been racing while on heroin.

If found to be guilty as chaged, should Fike be given another chance? I say it is completely up to him. First off, he needs to get into rehab. When he gets there, he needs to stay there until he recognizes what his triggers have been, and what he needs to do to remain sober. THEN, he needs to get back in NASCAR's good graces. My guess that will be almost as hard as breaking his habit. NASCAR has been burned a lot in recent years with giving a driver a second...even third...chance and having them abuse that opportunity. Stay clean and sober, or stay off the track.

NASCAR has long held itself above other stick and ball sports. Our fans are better, our athletes are more respectable. They don't go off and beat their spouses or shoot thier friends. They don't get arrested for causing a riot at a club, or for being an #### to the general public. Each driver has a code of ethics he is required to follow, both for his team and his sponsor. The reward for living a good life is the adoration of tens of thousands of men, women and children, and a bank account with more zero's than you can count on one hand.

But when you fall to the temptation to spend some of those benjamins on weed or coke or whatever it takes to make you get un unnatural high, that is when you can watch all of the money, all of the adulation, vanish in the smoke of your joint or pipe.

Why take that chance?

If you are high, I wouldn't want to be next to you during my morning commute. I certainly don't want you next to my favorite driver at 190 mph.