Ricky Williams Fails Drug Test

[AbeBeta]

Where I work you test positive 1 time and your history.

I hope you are a pilot or a bus driver or something.

Otherwise your employer should mind their own business.

Where employers get off telling their employees that they can't get high on the weekends is beyond me. Some folks would rather fire a productive employee than admit that people can use drugs recreationally without it impacting their work.

 

[Yeagermeister]

Taking Ricky out of the equation for a second.

It is explicit in the league's policy that results are private -- meaning that league personnel etc. cannot discuss test results. If that is the case, then why is it that every time someone test positive, unnamed sources come forward with this info?

Rules is rules -- and the players union needs to come down hard on the league for this constant stream of information that gets out.

I believe the first two positive tests are confidential but once they reach the suspension level it's public.

 

[Doomsday101]

I hope you are a pilot or a bus driver or something.

Otherwise your employer should mind their own business.

Where employers get off telling their employees that they can't get high on the weekends is beyond me. Some folks would rather fire a productive employee than admit that people can use drugs recreationally without it impacting their work.

I work for the County. I have a choice I could quite my job that I have had for 20 years but I don't think that would be too wise. Lastly I can tell this is more about your own personal feeling about weed and one day it may become legal although it does not matter to me one way or the other but for now it is the law and if these players want to play in the NFL they have to abide by the rules and considering they are getting paid millions to play a kids game I don't think that is too much to ask that the players pass drug test.

 

[Yeagermeister]

I hope you are a pilot or a bus driver or something.

Otherwise your employer should mind their own business.

Where employers get off telling their employees that they can't get high on the weekends is beyond me. Some folks would rather fire a productive employee than admit that people can use drugs recreationally without it impacting their work.

It all depends on your employers drug policy. Where I work you have to take a drug test before you are hired and if you fail you can't be hired. I don't have to worry about it because all they will find in my system is caffeine

 

[DBoys]

Report: Williams appeals failed drug test
NFL.com wire reports MIAMI (Feb. 21, 2006) -- Troubled running back Ricky Williams is appealing a positive drug test that could force the Miami Dolphins star to sit out the 2006 season, a person familiar with the case said.
If the positive test result is upheld, it would be Williams' fourth violation of the NFL's substance-abuse policy, meaning at least a one-year suspension.

According to one source, Ricky Williams isn't sitting this fight out. Previous positive tests were for marijuana, which Williams acknowledged using. But the latest test involved a drug other than marijuana, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because league policy is to keep test results confidential.
The Miami Herald reported Feb. 20 that two sources said Williams failed a test for a substance not publicly known. His latest positive test was first reported Feb. 19 by Denver television station KDVR.
A ruling on the appeal isn't expected until April. Williams, the 1998 Heisman Trophy winner and 2002 NFL rushing champion, is in India studying yoga and holistic medicine.
"Ricky Williams has been in outstanding behavioral mode for the past six months. No one should jump to any conclusions," said Williams' agent, Leigh Steinberg.
The Dolphins and the NFL declined to comment, citing the private nature of the league's drug program.
Williams retired and sat out the 2004 season. He owes the Dolphins $8.6 million for breaching his contract, and motivated at least partly by the need for a paycheck, he returned last year to play for new Miami coach Nick Saban.
Before being allowed to return, Williams served a four-game suspension at the start of the season for his third violation of the drug program.
Despite the long layoff and a limited workload, Williams ran for 743 yards and averaged 4.4 per carry while sharing playing time with rookie Ronnie Brown. Williams gained 280 yards in the final two games when Brown was hurt.
Saban and the Dolphins praised Williams' attitude, work ethic and leadership. Dispelling his reputation as an aloof, selfish pothead, Williams became such a model of good behavior that he was chosen co-winner of the local media's annual postseason Good Guy Award, given to the player most cooperative with reporters.
Williams laughingly described himself as weird and compared his career to a roller coaster. Since returning last season, the NFL has required him to undergo drug tests up to 10 times a month.

 

[AbeBeta]

I believe the first two positive tests are confidential but once they reach the suspension level it's public.

Not the substance they tested for. The league cannot comments except to say the player in violation -- yet we hear now that it wasn't a missed test but a failed test -- that's a violation of the confidentiality clause right there.

 

[AbeBeta]

.... if these players want to play in the NFL they have to abide by the rules and considering they are getting paid millions to play a kids game I don't think that is too much to ask that the players pass drug test.

I have no problem with the NFL doing drug testing -- but as I've argued earlier there is an imbalance between the tests they use and the seriousness of the drugs they catch. The tests are very good for catching fat soluable substances like Maryjane. Similarly, the tests are as good as they can be for catching steroids (which should be the # focus of the policy as these actually enhance performance). However, more serious drugs of abuse -- cocaine and pain killers for example -- leave the system very quickly.

What does this mean? Let's say after a game Player A smokes a doobie. Player B gets drunk, snorts coke, and downs a few oxycontin. Say both are tested Wednesday. Player A tests positive. Player B comes out totally clean.

Is this the outcome that the testing policy should be after?

 

[burmafrd]

should be blood tests or hair tests- either one is a whole lot better then urine tests.

 

[Doomsday101]

I have no problem with the NFL doing drug testing -- but as I've argued earlier there is an imbalance between the tests they use and the seriousness of the drugs they catch. The tests are very good for catching fat soluable substances like Maryjane. Similarly, the tests are as good as they can be for catching steroids (which should be the # focus of the policy as these actually enhance performance). However, more serious drugs of abuse -- cocaine and pain killers for example -- leave the system very quickly.

What does this mean? Let's say after a game Player A smokes a doobie. Player B gets drunk, snorts coke, and downs a few oxycontin. Say both are tested Wednesday. Player A tests positive. Player B comes out totally clean.

Is this the outcome that the testing policy should be after?

I understand how the test works and I understand the lenght of time that different drugs stay in the body. It may not be a perfect system but it seems to be good enough to nail morons who seem to flunk it more than once.

 

[Yeagermeister]

I understand how the test works and I understand the lenght of time that different drugs stay in the body. It may not be a perfect system but it seems to be good enough to nail morons who seem to flunk it more than once.

Like Leon Lett

 

[AbeBeta]

I understand how the test works and I understand the lenght of time that different drugs stay in the body. It may not be a perfect system but it seems to be good enough to nail morons who seem to flunk it more than once.

Hmm. So you are saying because a few guys got caught that makes for a successful test?

Hard to say if we don't know the actual level of drug use in the NFL to compare against.

 

[Doomsday101]

Like Leon Lett

No kidding. I just don't think it is that much to ask from players to stay clean and in return they have a chance to play a game for a living and make millions on top of that. Beats the hell out of what the rest of America deals with every day of the week for a lot less cash.

 

[Doomsday101]

Hmm. So you are saying because a few guys got caught that makes for a successful test?

Hard to say if we don't know the actual level of drug use in the NFL to compare against.

Are you saying that no testing should be done and that these guys can do what ever they want? Sorry but asking grown men who play a game and get millions to do so I don't think is asking very much at all and if you stay clean then you have no need to worry about it. If you want to get high that is your business but if I'm paying Millions to have you on my team I sure as heck have a right to demand that your clean.

 

[AbeBeta]

Are you saying that no testing should be done and that these guys can do what ever they want? Sorry but asking grown men who play a game and get millions to do so I don't think is asking very much at all and if you stay clean then you have no need to worry about it. If you want to get high that is your business but if I'm paying Millions to have you on my team I sure as heck have a right to demand that your clean.

No, I'm saying if you demand someone is clean - give them a test that makes sure they are. not one that is flawed when it comes to detecting some very serious drugs of abuse.

 

[Yeagermeister]

Are you saying that no testing should be done and that these guys can do what ever they want? Sorry but asking grown men who play a game and get millions to do so I don't think is asking very much at all and if you stay clean then you have no need to worry about it. If you want to get high that is your business but if I'm paying Millions to have you on my team I sure as heck have a right to demand that your clean.

Any employeer has the right to expect their employees to be clean. It's not the casual users who hurt people. It's the addicts that come to work stoned but you can't say oh he's just a casual user he's not a problem.

 

[Doomsday101]

No, I'm saying if you demand someone is clean - give them a test that makes sure they are. not one that is flawed when it comes to detecting some very serious drugs of abuse.

They get better than the rest of us, sorry I have no pity what so ever for these guys when it comes to testing. It never fails that some idiot ends up suspended so while it is not perfect it does seem to catch it's fair share. Also just because you test positive 1 time does not mean your going to get suspended you get to go on the drug program where you are tested up to 10 times a month and guess what some of these guys still manage to fails the test.

 

[AbeBeta]

Any employeer has the right to expect their employees to be clean. It's not the casual users who hurt people. It's the addicts that come to work stoned but you can't say oh he's just a casual user he's not a problem.

I think that when we start giving employers rights to dictate what employees do on their own time -- without proof that what they are doing is actually impacting their performance it is a problem. If a positive drug test equates to other negative employee behaviors fine -- e.g., coming in late, missing deadlines, poor productivity. But if a positive drug test doesn't impact performance in any way the employer notices then it is just puritanical BS.

 

[AbeBeta]

They get better than the rest of us, sorry I have no pity what so ever for these guys when it comes to testing. It never fails that some idiot ends up suspended so while it is not perfect it does seem to catch it's fair share. Also just because you test positive 1 time does not mean your going to get suspended you get to go on the drug program where you are tested up to 10 times a month and guess what some of these guys still manage to fails the test.

again you say "it catches the idiots" and I'm saying that some guys get away with stuff because of how the tests work. two different points.

alright -- I gotta go a smoke a doobie now so I can get some work done. you go pee in a cup and we'll meet back here in a couple hours.

 

[Doomsday101]

again you say "it catches the idiots" and I'm saying that some guys get away with stuff because of how the tests work. two different points.

alright -- I gotta go a smoke a doobie now so I can get some work done. you go pee in a cup and we'll meet back here in a couple hours.

Once they fail a test they get tested 10 times a month and yes that would get to the point that you would start getting results of other drugs that do not stay in the body as long as weed does.

 

[AbeBeta]

Once they fail a test they get tested 10 times a month and yes that would get to the point that you would start getting results of other drugs that do not stay in the body as long as weed does.

But again, those who initially fail a test will be more likely to have used drugs that stay in the body longer.

I guess the take home message here for players is use cocaine or heroin -- you'll be less likely to test positive.