Report: NFL players unlikely to vote on new drug policy before Friday
The NFL and its players are unlikely to vote on a new drug policy before Friday, according to a tweet Wednesday night from Tom Pelissero of USA Today.
The two sides have been discussing changes to the kind of drugs for which players are tested and what the league deems to be an illegal substance. One of the major changes will likely be the testing of Human Growth Hormone, or HGH, for the first time in league history. The players are also looking to elevate the threshold at which one tests positive for marijuana.
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NFLPA President Eric Winston spoke in more detail to the Associated Press this week about the reason why players want to elevate the acceptable level in THC tests:
''The (potency) level is so much greater in marijuana now, the secondhand smoke can get a positive test. Just a guy who is around it second hand, then to have to go into the program? We don't want false positive. We have to move up the minimum to normal workplace standards.''
The 32 player representatives from the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) received the league's proposal for a new drug policy on Tuesday afternoon. A conference call was held later that evening during which they opted to table the vote until a later date.
A second change the league is looking to make is to immediately discipline players, NFL owners, executives, officials, coaches and league office personnel for simply being arrested for a DUI. The NFLPA said it would not do away with the right one has to due process.
- Marc Weinreich
