It’s been four years since the NFL wisely agreed to stop suspending players who tested positive for marijuana, but it’s still permitted to dole out fines for that particular offense under the deal it struck with the NFLPA—an agreement that has led to Buccaneers LB Randy Gregory filing a lawsuit after being forced to fork over more than $500,000.
The NFL began testing players for marijuana in 1971, although the punishment was initially limited to “education” concerning the downsides of using the drug. The league didn’t start doling out suspensions until 1989, and in the decades that followed, a number of players (most notably Ricky Williams and Josh Gordon) saw their careers significantly impacted by positive tests.
It took a bit longer than it probably should have, but the collective bargaining agreement that was ratified in 2020 took suspensions off of the table while still giving the NFL the power to hit players who test positive with fines that escalate with each violation (the first infraction results in the forfeiture of half a week’s salary, while the fourth—and any after—claims three week’s worth).
According to The Denver Post, current Buccaneers (and former Broncos) LB Randy Gregory has decided to take legal action against the NFL after being forced to hand over a grand total of $532,500 since last March due to positive tests linked to Dronabinol, a prescription medicine he takes for anxiety and PTSD that triggers a positive result thanks to the delta-9 THC it contains.
Gregory was repeatedly suspended for violations of the league’s substance abuse policy before the rules were changed; he was hit with a 14-game ban in 2016 during his time with the Cowboys and was forced to miss the entirety of the 2017 and 2019 campaigns.
The legal filing says Gregory (who made around $13 million last year) repeatedly petitioned the NFL for a therapeutic use exception in 2023 but saw those requests rejected. Last summer, he filed discrimination charges against the league and the Broncos (who are also named in the lawsuit) before deciding to escalate the matter this week.
The lawsuit states he is seeking a jury trial in the hopes of securing “repayment of the monetary fines [he] was required to pay,” with his agent noting, “Randy’s not trying to buck the system, but he’s paying $500,000 in fines for something that anybody else in the state of Colorado can do.”
It’s hard to imagine Gregory is gaining a competitive advantage by using a cannabis-based drug, so while it does seem like the NFL is the bad guy in this situation at first glance, we’ll have to wait and see how things play out.
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