There has been a lot of speculation lately at the NFL’s drug-testing policy is too easy to pass and it’s not a strict enough policy for the players to follow because they seem to be getting away with a lot more and more of drugs lately and steroids, which it’s not good for the sport at all and for the wellness of the players. The Nfl drug testing policy should be more strict for players who have not been caught yet because they are only tested once a year.
I remember growing up and watching ESPN in the morning preferably SportsCenter. Hearing stories of current football players failing drug tests at the time and hearing the rules of the NFL drug testing at the time to. I remember always hearing about how they always usually get tested once a year before training camp soI wondered why players didn’t just wait 30 days to get it out of their system and then just do what they want during the season. Or why don’t they just wait till if they are careers over I mean the NFL career is not a long one due to injuries and stuff so why don’t they just wait to do all the smoking they want then and other Substances.
The first article that I found focused on the recently dead Aaron Hernandez. The article talked about how we all know Aaron Hernandez like to smoke a lot of weed and do other type of drugs there on the NFL offseason so the question of how was he able to bypass all these drug tests and stuff for as incredibly stupid as he is. The article was by deadspin and the author of this was Barry Pethesky. Throughout this article he made very good points and use very good information and had a good evidence on how the NFL testing is remarkably easy with stuff he has seen from players current and past and just up he’s seen by watching these players failed drug test and then other players who somehow passed the drug test you probably have seen or not based off the stuff you seen them doing their personal life.
One quote from the article that made a good point was if every NFL player is regularly tested for marijuana,”how was Hernandez able to pass every drug test he took?”(Pethesky). Which is a good statement about most nfl players and their daily life. Some other players like josh gordan get caught all the time but other players are able to escape it.
Another point the article made was “if a player passes his one test, he won’t be tested again until the next April-August. One former medical personnel called it an “intelligence test, because it’s once a year, and you know it’s coming.” One agent quipped that players sometimes will throw “smoking parties” as soon as their testing is complete” this is something from the article that I liked about how the players will party as soon as the testing is done(Pethesky)
This one talks about how easy it is for nfl to bypass the nfl drug testing. He talks about how the nfl drug testing is really two programs and how they work. A quote i really enjoyed was about how someone like aaron hernandez passed the nfl drug test “Hernandez knew that it’s easy to beat the NFL’s tests for substances of abuse: Stop using in time for drugs to clear your system, pass your one annual test, then start using again as soon as you’ve submitted”. This just shows and talks about how they basically barely get tested and know how to break the system.
My last source was from sports illustrated. The title of the source was five things you probably didn’t know about the nfl drug policy. The author of the source was Jacob Feldman. He talked on how their are things like saticies and other things for the nfl Policies and suspensions from the past and present. Some of the information i got was “Players outside the “intervention program”—those who’ve never had a violation—are tested just once a year. Anyone under contract is tested once”(Feldman). Another thing that I pulled from the article was that players who fail their first drug test we randomly drug tested throughout the rest of their career which is something I found to be very good and maybe NFL drug test policy less easy.
So after i did the research for this paper i found it to be True that the NFL drug testing policy may definitely be too easy for the players to pass. To only be tested once a year and to facely have the rest of the offseason off and during the season to do kind of whatever they want is ridiculous. I personally don’t understand how the owners or even the commissioner are okay with this. But it Is their policy so as fans we have to accept it and enjoy the game we love.
Works Cited
Feldman, Jacob. “Five Little-Known Facts about the NFL Drug Policy.” SI.com, Sports Illustrated, 12 July 2016, www.si.com/nfl/2016/07/11/nfl-drug-policy-substance-abuse-suspensions-tests. Accessed 10 May 2017.
Petchesky, Barry. “It’s Remarkably Easy To Beat NFL Drug Testing.” Deadspin, Deadspin.com, 6 Apr. 2015, deadspin.com/its-remarkably-easy-to-beat-nfl-drug-testing-1695935246. Accessed 10 May 2017.
Smith, Michael David. “Aaron Hernandez Knew That Beating NFL Drug Tests Is Easy.”ProFootballTalk, profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/04/05/aaron-hernandez-knew-that-beating-nfl-drug-tests-is-easy/. Accessed 9 May 2017.
“Why Passing NFL Drug Test Is So Easy?” | Best 4 Drug Test, blog.best4drugtest.com/why-passing-nfl-drug-test-is-so-easy.html. Accessed 9 May 2017.