NFL adds amphetamines to steroid policy, toughens penalties

06-27-06

The National Football League toughened penalties for players found using amphetamines and methamphetamines.

Amphetamines previously were a part of the league's substance-abuse policy and players needed to test positive three times before facing a suspension.

The performance-enhancing stimulants have now been added to the NFL's steroid policy and players will face a four-game suspension for a first-time offense starting in 2007. The change was negotiated with the NFL Players Association as part of the extension of the league's collective bargaining agreement, league spokesman Greg Aiello said in a telephone interview.

Major League Baseball added amphetamines to its banned list this season.

The 2006 NFL season will be a transition year, Aiello said, and players who test positive for amphetamines a first time will be subject to further testing for reasonable cause. A second positive test would result in a four-game ban.

"Frankly, we didn't see amphetamines and methamphetamines as a big issue, as a big problem in the league," Harold Henderson, the NFL's executive vice president of labor relations, told the San Diego Union Tribune. "But we've now come to learn that at least in other sports -- and maybe in our sport, too -- people believe that it's a performance-enhancer, so it was more the health concern that drove us to reach an agreement with the union to make a change."

A second positive test for amphetamines would result in an eight-game suspension starting in 2007, an increase from the current six-game ban for a repeat violation. A third offense results in a one-year suspension.

The NFL in 2001 added ephedrine to its steroids and related substances policy. The league in 2003 developed tests for the designer steroid THG, or tetrahyrogestrinone, and last year enforced stricter limits for testosterone.