NFL reportedly plans to decrease punishments for marijuana use

Via ESPN, the NFL may be getting ready to decrease penalties for players who test positive for marijuana while also increasing the threshold for triggering a positive test:

It would be too late to help Josh Gordon, Will Hill or anyone else in danger of lengthy suspensions for violations of current rules. But when and if the NFL’s new drug policy is finalized and announced, it will include changes specific to marijuana and other drugs of abuse.

A source told ESPN.com on Tuesday that the renegotiation of the drug policy, which has been going on since 2011 and includes testing for HGH, also will significantly increase the threshold for a positive marijuana test and reduce the punishments for violations involving that drug.

As alluded to in the article, the news comes just a few days after it was reported that Brown’s receiver Josh Gordon is facing a year-long suspension for marijuana use.  (The Josh Gordon story generated an interesting discussion of marijuana use and the NFL on Pardon the Interruption yesterday (the segment begins at 11 minutes 30 seconds into the linked clip.)) 

On a related note, some readers may remember news coverage a few months ago of NFL players who use marijuana for pain relief, preferring it to more addictive pain killers.  Though the league’s new policy would not directly address the medical use of marijuana among players, it may be a nod to that trend.  It will be interesting to see more about the policy–particularly what threshold the NFL sets for a positive test–if/when the details are released.