It’s April 20. Or 4/20. Or 420.
For some, that has a specific meaning -- along with specific incentive to engage in a specific activity. For NFL players, it’s the worst day to supplement #riseandgrind with a little #wakeandbake.
Coincidental or not, April 20 also is the day on which the window opens for the annual substance-abuse testing program. Any players who would like to smoke and/or ingest substances that (for now) can be legally smoked and/or ingested in various American states must now wait until they are tested. That can happen as late as August.
For that reason, most players hope the word comes quickly. Unless, of course, it hasn’t been a full month since they last smoked and/or ingested. In that case, they need to sweat out the possibility of the drug test mandate coming before the metabolites have exited the player’s system.
That said, the first strike doesn’t result in a suspension. But once the player lands in the program, the testing happens more frequently. Which means that the player will have to choose football over marijuana on a consistent basis until exiting the program.