The NFL's view of marijuana and players who use it is due to become much less harsh when the new drug policy agreement with the union is put into place, ESPN.com has reported.
When that will happen is anyone's guess, however, because the two sides still have not agreed on HGH testing, an issue that has slowed the talks since the end of the lockout in 2011 and the start of the new labor agreement.
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The league and the NFL Players Association are still disputing who will have final say on discipline, appeals and punishment. The NFL wants commissioner Roger Goodell to be in charge, as he has been in other on- and off-field disciplinary cases for years. The union remains dead-set against that, insisting on an independent arbiter.
Arizona Cardinals guard Eric Winston, the president of the NFLPA, told reporters last week that as long as the NFL holds that position, nothing will get done.
“If [Goodell] wanted HGH testing as bad as he wants to retain his power, then we would have had testing last year," Gordon said.
League spokesman Greg Aiello responded with an email to ESPN.com which read, in part: "Our commitment to testing is clear. The same cannot be said of the union."
That would have to be resolved in the case of the changes to the marijuana policy, too, ESPN.com reported late Tuesday.
The key change, a source told the website, is a significant increase in the threshold for a positive test, and a reduction in the punishment for a violation. The source told ESPN.com that the World Anti-Doping Agency has a higher threshold for a positive test than the NFL.