With the NFL and NFLPA still haggling over the contours of an HGH testing program more than two years after agreeing that HGH testing will occur, the league and its players continue to operate under the pre-2011 drug, alcohol, and steroids policies.
By striking a deal on HGH testing, the two sides also will be able to update the other policies. According to Alex Marvez of FOXSports.com, that could include more stringent penalties for DUIs.
The league wants a suspension to be imposed for a first offense. Currently, the standard sanction for the initial infraction is a two-game fine.
The NFLPA, per Marvez, would want other terms, including a better system for ensuring players who have had too much to drink can make alternative transportation arrangements.
“We would entertain any program collaboration, initiative or partnership that looks like it was feasibly calculated to reduce the number of incidents involving players, club employees and league employee who drive while impaired. That’s a given,” NFL senior V.P. of labor law and policy Adolpho Birch told Marvez.
The NFLPA should share that objective, especially since a member of the NFLPA died while riding in another member’s car last December.