#beard would't FLAUNT drug use so openly. he wouldn't RISK IT?????

[coachbeards]

no but the way that the show treated beard's repeated drug use as another "oh he's just so wild and quirky 🤪" joke instead of the self-medication and self-harm it actually was....

beard being high during a match because he accidentally consumed drugs he wasn't aware were out..............that's not funny. being a drug addict, getting high without being aware you consumed drugs in the first place must've been genuinely terrifying. while high on shrooms, the best thing you can be is calm and relaxed...beard had to go to work. he had to pretend to be okay. he couldn't let anyone see, since his literal career would be at stake if it was discovered. dealing with the anxiety of an unexpected high (one you can kind of see beard blame himself for. "i drank tea from the wrong pot." instead of framing it like jane left it out and he didn't know. he framed it like it was his fault. and "it won't happen again." again, like it's his own fault) that's not funny. that's not a little haha beard you're so wild <3 especially since two episodes prior, ted was having a panic attack during a match, and all the characters treated that with way more sensitivity than beard's situation. even ted, the one who is aware that beard's life was almost ruined my drugs, just made a joke about it.

making jokes that implies beard routinely gets high with their bus driver.... that's not good, y'all! smoking toad venom with the bus driver??? and ted brushing it off too and the show treating it like a joke? the bus driver also being revealed to be beard's drug dealer being framed as nothing more than just a quirky beard thing. can i just say i hate how much they refused to delve into beard under the excuse that he's just enigmatic and quirky? yeah.

in sunflowers, beard refers to shrooms as his medicine. and yes, meth + shrooms aren't exactly in the same ballpark. but if i heard my best friend, whose life was ruined by drugs to the point where i had to rescue him and nurse him back to health, said that he took shrooms as a self-medication tactic, i'd be a touch concerned. but since they never framed it as an issue, despite beard's backstory (and brendan had headcanoned drug addict beard from the beginning, so it's not like it just was put into the plot for the sake of mom city,) ted didn't make a big deal out of it. he was seemingly fine with beard's drug use, and even agreed to do drugs with him.

but also........................a man devoted to not only ted, but to the team........i just don't think he'd be soooo casual about taking several illicit substances and he wouldn't do it all willy nilly.

especially considering nate leaking ted's panic attacks to the press (which......not that beard was ever nate's target, but he could've easily leaked beard being high, too. which...again. would've tanked his career), beard wouldn't be doing drugs with the bus driver or traveling with illegal substances on a team related event. he'd be aware that his actions have consequences, clearly given his prison record, and i just don't think he'd be so......open and uncaring. beard was guilted by being high during a match to the point where he had to come clean, as it was something eating him alive.

if beard's drug addiction was revealed, especially the port vale match or using the bus driver as a drug dealer or carrying illegal substances on team trips..........it wouldn't just be his reputation and job at stake. it could ruin ted's career, having been aware of his criminal record and his repeated drug use and didn't do anything about it. it could create damage for rebecca, for employing a man without carefully combing through his records (drugs are..............obviously very frowned up in society in general, but within the sports world? yikes.). the team would face struggles as well. beard wouldn't risk any of that. but not only would he not risk it, he wouldn't do it so openly and freely in the first place.

i do not care that brendan waved it away with the excuse that meth and shrooms aren't the same thing. a recovering drug addict using drugs to canonically self-medicate isn't exactly a good thing. beard has substance use disorder, and i wish it was treated better within the show, by the other characters, and by the writers.