"One multi time winner smoked dope on the trail so he was oblivious to the weather---forcing his dogs to mush on," so that is your take on Lance Mackey?  Well Richard, Lance does smoke marijuana but that doesn't make him oblivious to the weather as you claim.  

Marijuana does seem to have a strange effect on you, making you oblivious to common sense at times.  Lance has survived cancer and radiation treatments.  He suffers from circulatory problems in his extremities, notably in his hands.  He's sick. 

Most reindeer do not end up on the dinner table.  Some do, just as some caribou, moose and porcupine end up in the same place.  Now cows, pigs, chickens and lamb end up on the dinner table with near certainty.  But the Iditarod is evil? 

Nome has Velvet as a pet except she would get loose and run down the street.  Once she attacked an old woman on the street who suffered lacerations in her face and hands.  North Pole cages reindeer for the tourists.  So does Anchorage.