Let me start off by saying the reason Josh Gordon is in this predicament is because of Josh Gordon. You just don’t start off in Stage 3 of the NFL Drug Policy, you have to be a repeat offender. Josh Gordon has been screwing up for a while, so I don’t feel much sympathy for him because if this was just his first offense, we wouldn’t even be talking about this.
With that being said, if this report from Pro Football Talk is correct, it is time that the NFL updates it drug testing policy using some common sense.
Urine samples routinely are split into two bottles, the “A” bottle and the “B” bottle. If the “A” bottle generates a positive result, the “B” bottle is tested. Amazingly, the “B” bottle doesn’t have to independently show a violation. Instead, the substance abuse policy states that the “‘B’ bottle Test need only show that the substance, revealed in the ‘A’ bottle Test, is evident to the ‘limits of detection’ to confirm the results of the ‘A’ bottle Test.”
In English, close counts in horseshoes, hand grenades, and “B” bottles.
For Gordon, the “A” bottle showed a concentration of 16 ng/ml, only one nanogram per milliliter above the limits of 15. The “B” bottle showed a concentration of 13.6 ng/ml — less than the threshold.
But because the “A” bottle was labeled “A” and not “B” and because the “B” bottle was labeled “B” and not “A”, the end result is a positive and a minimum one-year banishment from the NFL. Flip the bottles when it’s time to apply the labels, and Gordon isn’t facing a suspension.
PFT goes on to say that Gordon has passed 70 drug tests since being in Stage 3, but it appears he failed one barely. His reasoning according to ESPN is second hand weed smoke.
Let’s just stop right there for a minute. If you know that your career is dependent of passing drug tests, why are you with anyone that is smoking enough that you can trigger a positive test from second hand smoke? Josh Gordon has to be smarter than this, so either he is lying or just dumb. Either way his reasoning for the positive test is as bad as the NFL testing policy.
Until the NFL for whatever reason stops doing this stupid thing with the A & B bottles he is looking at a year long suspension. It should either be pass or fail. If both samples aren’t positive, it shouldn’t be seen as a failed test.
Unlike domestic violence the suspensions on drug policies are rigid. If they weren’t they could lighten the suspension or just throw it out. Until the policy is changed, you will keep something cases like this.