New York, NY: The National Football League (NFL) will no longer issue suspensions to players who test positive for past cannabis exposure.
Changes finalized in the NFL’s new collective bargaining agreement amend the league’s longstanding marijuana policies. Under the new guidelines, players will only be subject to testing during a two-week period at the start of training camp. The threshold required to trigger a positive marijuana test will be raised, and positive test results will be subject to an internal review rather than an automatic game suspension.
The NFL changes follow policy changes instituted by Major League Baseball, which recently dropped cannabis from its list of banned substances.
For additional information, please see NORML’s fact-sheet, “Marijuana Legalization and Impact on the Workplace.”