NFL’s Josh Gordon claims secondhand smoke led to failed drug test

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Cleveland Browns WR Josh Gordon says secondhand smoke led to a failed drug test


One of the first things you learn as a stoner is how to dodge the bullet when it comes to getting busted. Some nights there might not have been enough Visine and cologne on the planet to cover up how baked you were when you thought you were fooling your parents coming home late.
When you do walk in a room all pie-eyed and reeking of reefer, maybe the oldest excuse in the book is to blame it on the “other guy”. When the phrase “secondhand smoke” became a household term when speaking on the dangers of cigarettes, the anti-pot crowd was quick to point out that secondhand marijuana smoke could be a danger as well.
These days, the tables have turned a bit, and savvy stoners are turning science against the system and citing “secondhand smoke” as the culprit anytime they get busted for weed.


Josh Gordon is a standout Wide Receiver for the Cleveland Browns in the NFL. He is also a free-spirited young man who may or may not enjoy a toke or two once in a while. By all accounts, he is having the best training camp of his Pro Bowl career, but neither he nor his teammates and coaches even know if he will be able to take the field this year.
Gordon is facing an indefinite suspension from the National Football League on the grounds of “substance abuse”.
Having been suspended no less than three times in college on weed-related violations, Gordon was benched for two games by the League last year after getting popped taking codeine cough sizzurp.
This suspension made Gordon a “Stage III” risk in the League’s drug testing program, and forced him to take up to 10 drug tests each month.
After 70 such tests, all clean, Gordon barely failed one – and he disputes the results – and now he faces up to a full year suspension.
A full year, with no pay… over some weed.
Baltimore Ravens Running Back Ray Rice just got busted for beating his wife, and that only cost him two games!
Not exactly helping his cause, while waiting to see how the League would react, Gordon got pulled over in May of this year for driving 74mph in a 60mph zone, and his passenger was cited for carrying somewhere under 200 grams of cannabis.
The NFL’s hypocritical hatred for marijuana has led to a policy whereby anyone testing over just 15ng/ml of THC in their system fails the test. For reference, the World Anti-Doping Agency who regulates Olympic athletes allows up to 150ng/ml. The American military even allows up to 50ng/ml.
Gordon has hired a high-powered defense team to take on the allegations he faces, and vows to fight back against what he feels would be an unjust suspension.
No stranger to the ganja, or to getting busted, Gordon’s stoner sense seems to have kicked in. His spokesperson announced yesterday that Gordon’s defense will be that it wasn’t him smoking the weed, but he was around people who do spark up, and all of the secondhand smoke led to a failed drug test.
Though it may seem like a unique way to try to beat the system, Josh Gordon was not the first person to use this excuse, and he likely will not be the last. In 2007, a drug testing expert named Dr. Daniel Lieberman told ABC News that, “Athletes who test positive for marijuana also often blame secondhand smoke, but that would also require sitting in an incredibly dense cloud of smoke. All one has to do if they’re worried is sit near an opened window.”
But, the ridiculously low threshold for failure set by the NFL for its players could hypothetically lead to possible false positives, and even with his checkered past, Gordon could very well be telling the truth.
As much as professional athletes do not wish to be considered “role models”, it seems that the average Joe’s and armchair stoners out in the state of Washington are taking a page right out of Gordon’s playbook lately.
Local law enforcement officials are reporting a vast increase in excuse-making by drivers suspected to be driving under the influence of marijuana, with “secondhand smoke” being the top plea.
Though field sobriety testing for cannabis is still light years away from being fair or useful, officers in the state of Washington where recreational weed is legal are sticking to their guns and letting the public know that it doesn’t matter how you got impaired – that driving that way will lead to a DUI arrest.

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