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NFL

The Redzone: Drug test failures just don’t Adderall up

Since December last year, 10 NFL players have had positive drug tests in which Adderall has played a part but, under current rules, there’s no way of knowing for sure if they’re telling the truth.

IN THE PAST year, 10 NFL players have been linked to the use of Adderall, a prescription stimulant commonly associated with treating both Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

The latest, Richard Sherman and Brandon Browner of the Seattle Seahawks, face possible four-game suspensions for their positive drug tests in November. Earlier that month, Tampa Bay corner back Eric Wright was suspended for four games for Adderall use, the same punishment meted out to his former teammate Aqib Talib in October.

At the time, Talib said he had “made a mistake by taking an Adderall pill without a prescription,” but he wasn’t the first to blame the drug. That distinction falls to New York Giants safety Tyler Sash.

Last March, after Big Blue’s Super Bowl win, Sash was invited to his hometown in Iowa to be honoured for his achievements. Not one for public speaking, Sash received a prescription for Adderall from his doctor. Over the course of two days, he took four tablets. On 26 March 2012, Sash was randomly selected for drug-testing. He failed and in July 2012 he was suspended for four games.

Among all the NFL players suspended this year, only Sash’s teammate, Andre Brown, has won his appeal so far. Brown, a running back, was able to prove he’d been prescribed Adderall since high school for ADHD. Given the high profile nature of both cases, you’d wonder why there has been a spate of positive tests for the drug. Unfortunately, the picture isn’t so clear.

The NFL collective bargaining agreement, the one NFL fans lauded last year because it meant we got a full season of football, bars the NFL from commenting on cases regarding positive drug tests. The deal allows them to announce that a player has been suspended, but not confirm nor deny the substance involved.

Therefore, it is entirely possible for an NFL player to say they have been suspended for accidental ingestion of Adderall when, in fact, the substance found may have been any of the hundreds of performance enhancing drugs available to them.

Of course, I’m not saying this is the case with any of the players who have claimed their suspension is because of Adderall. I have no reason to doubt any one of them. I am merely pointing out the ridiculousness of a system where we know a player has failed a drug test but we, the public who pay for tickets, team apparel and more, have no idea what that drug was.

I mean, there’s a huge difference between accidently ingesting prescription medicine and knowingly boosting with performance enhancing drugs. Why shouldn’t we know who falls into what category?

All this, of course, ignores the NFL’s dirty little secret; it doesn’t test for Human Growth Hormone (HGH).

If you follow the NFL as closely as I do, you’ll read article after article from writers convinced the NFL doesn’t have a HGH problem.  These players, they argue, are naturally bigger and stronger than the average Joe, that’s why they’ve excelled at football. I don’t know about you but, to me, they sound very similar to major league baseball fans who, 10 or 15 years ago, claimed their sport didn’t have a steroid problem despite batting records tumbling faster than the Saints’ playoff hopes.

The sticking point for the NFL and players’ union is that players want a population study to determine what level of HGH use there is before the implementation of testing and bans. The NFL would do well to learn from Major League Baseball’s (MLB) approach whereby it implemented anonymous testing for a year without punishment. They didn’t call it a population study, but it did establish steroid use as a problem in the MLB and testing was introduced the following year.

Until the NFL begins testing for HGH, there’ll always be question marks over certain players. It also puts a spanner in the works for any potential NFL games taking place in Ireland.

Earlier this year, while researching a different piece, I had it confirmed to me by a drug tester that, were the NFL to come to this country, they would be obliged to test for HGH. How embarrassing would be for the NFL if an Irish tester found a star player, indeed any player, guilty of using HGH but in no position to do anything about it because they are hamstrung by the collective bargaining agreement?

However, there is an argument to be made that not having HGH testing actually suits the NFL. As with the rule prohibiting them from revealing the true nature of a player’s drug offence, no positive HGH tests provide the façade of a clean product. A few forgetful or uninformed players do far less damage to the NFL brand than a culture of doping.

Who knows; maybe the NFL is clean? Perhaps there has just been an unfortunate run of players who didn’t get the memo about prescription drugs? Or maybe, just maybe, there is a problem in the NFL that needs addressing.

One thing’s for sure, under the current rules, we’ll never actually know.

Week 13 results

  • New Orleans Saints 13 @ Atlanta Falcons 23
  • Jacksonville Jaguars 18 @ Buffalo Bills 34
  • Seattle Seahawks 23 @ Chicago Bears 17
  • Indianapolis Colts 35 @ Detroit Lions 33
  • Minnesota Vikings 14 @ Green Bay Packers 23
  • Carolina Panthers 21 @ Kansas City Chiefs 27
  • New England Patriots 23 @ Miami Dolphins 16
  • Arizona Cardinals 6 @ New York Jets 7
  • San Francisco 49ers 13 @ St Louis Rams 16
  • Houston Texans 24 @ Tennessee Titans 10
  • Tampa Bay Buccaneers 23 @ Denver Broncos 31
  • Pittsburgh Steelers 23 @ Baltimore Ravens 20
  • Cleveland Browns 20 @ Oakland Raiders 17
  • Cincinnati Bengals 20 @ San Diego Chargers 13
  • Philadelphia Eagles 33 @ Dallas Cowboys 38

Happy days: Graeme McDowell wins World Challenge