Steelers’ Le’Veon Bell Drug-Tested

April 20th is no date to take your blessing as an NFL football player for granted, Le’Veon Bell learned on Wednesday, as the Pro Bowl running back is reported to have been summonsed to take a random drug test. This is the second story to surface around the topic of drug-testing in the NFL in recent weeks, as earlier this month the Cleveland Browns‘ Josh Gordon made headlines when it was revealed that he had flunked a test in March, putting his reinstatement from suspension in jeopardy for the 2016 season. “Of course I get a “random” drug test on 4/20…good luck with that sample,” Bell posted on Twitter.

 

The Pittsburgh Steelers were forced to open the 2015 season without their star player due to an arrest for DUI and marijuana possession that resulted in a two game suspension. Bell and teammate LeGarrette Blount were stopped on their way to the airport for a preseason game in August, when the officer claimed to have smelled marijuana coming from their car. “I smoked two hours ago. I’m not high anymore,” Bell is reputed to have said. A search of the vehicle turned up 20 grams of marijuana and ultimately landed him a sentence of 15 months probation, suspension of his license for 60-days, and DUI education classes.

There is no evidence supporting whether the 24-year-old was targeted, as April 20th happens to be the date the league kicks off it’s annual drug-testing window. The date does however lend itself to the notion that marijuana is an overt target of the league’s banned substance abuse policy. The NFL’s contentious history with the drug was brought front and center in August of 2004, when Miami Dolphins running back Ricky Williams chose to rather retire in the prime of his career than comply with the policy. In an interview last year, former Atlanta Falcon Jamal Anderson went public to estimate that “40 to 50 percent of the league” during his late-90’s tenure.

SOURCE: VLADTV