(‘I just got one question: who here has some rolling papers?’)

Nick Diaz’s love of marijuana is unabashed and well documented, but he may have finally reached the point where even he will be forced to admit that it’s a problem that is negatively affecting his life.  According to multiple reports this afternoon, Diaz failed to contact the California State Athletic Commission about rescheduling the pre-licensing drug test that he missed on Friday, which means that he will not be fighting Jay Hieron for the Strikeforce welterweight title at “Carano vs. Cyborg” this Saturday night.  

Instead, TUF 7’s Jesse “JT Money” Taylor will step in to face Hieron in a non-title affair, meaning the most troubled Strikeforce card ever just took another crippling blow.  Presumably Diaz is listening to a voicemail message from Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker right now explaining that he’s not mad at him, just very, very disappointed.  And somehow, much to his surprise, that will make Nick feel so much worse.

It’s important to note that this is not a failed drug test by Diaz.  This is a failure to take a drug test, or rather the failure to even set up an appointment to take the drug test that he was supposed to take three days ago.  Not only did he not show up for the make-up test, he didn’t even bother setting up a time to do it, which means he decided that fighting for a title wasn’t even worth picking up the goddamn phone.

Sure, maybe he would have failed the test and been denied a license anyway.  But you at least have to roll the dice in that situation.  So far the CSAC says they’ve heard nothing from Diaz, nor from Cesar Gracie or anyone else in his camp.  Gracie is busy trying to spin this so it somehow seems like the CSAC’s fault.

Gracie told Sherdog that Diaz had an arrangement with former CSAC Executive Officer Armando Garcia that stipulated he only be tested on the night of his fights.  Of course, Garcia hasn’t been with the CSAC for about nine months and Diaz is subject to the same out-of-competition drug-testing as any other fighter in the state, so it’s not as if he can really cry foul simply because he wasn’t given ample notice to flush the banned substances out of his system.  Somehow that doesn’t stop Gracie from acting as if the Diaz camp is the aggrieved party here:

“They just changed the policy and gave us two days’ notice,” said Gracie. “We don’t have any options.”

Actually, that’s not at all true.  One option would be to go and take the test.  Another would be to not use banned substances.  A third would be to avoid using banned substances within a few weeks of the fight.  A fourth would be to seek natural highs, like those found on rollercoasters and in a child’s carefree laugh.  There are options, is the point.

We here at Cage Potato are all for personal liberty and each individual making their own choices about their own bodies, especially when it comes to recreational, non-performance-enhancing drug use.  But dammit, when it starts to affect your life, your career, and the lives/careers of those depending on you, that’s when you need to take a long look in the mirror and ask, ‘What am I doing with my life, and why does my face appear to be melting?’  

Diaz has let down himself, Strikeforce, his fans, and don’t even get us started on poor Jay Hieron, who can’t catch a break in this business.  It might be time for Diaz to do some soul-searching and decide what’s really important to him, though we have a sinking feeling that we already know what conclusions he’ll arrive at.