Breaking: 10 players fail drug test (Mettenberger, Jernigan, etc)

[MLD Woody]

Smoking weed isn't a big deal.

Smoking weed before the biggest job interview of your life where you know there will be a drug screening.... that isn't a good sign.

[Canton Mike]

Bottom line: With the combine ahead of you, knowing some substances are banned, & you use them anyway, are you really smart enough to learn an NFL playbook and/or respond to NFL level coaching? I have my doubts. That's like showing up for a job interview wearing dirty clothes. Impressive, hunh?

Mike

[slowburn]

Some kids learn quicker than others. I'd be a lot more concerned if they failed the wizz quiz after camp started. The league has plenty of starters who have failed a piss test somewhere along the line. No big shakes in my book.

[calfoxwc]

no wonder Mettenberger played like Derek Anderson in college.

I didn't think any qb could remind me of DA.

[hoorta]

@walterwhite said:

So he got kicked off Georgia for sexual battery, eats his own boogers, is injury prone, and now fails drug test!!!

Oh well! He's got a big strong arm! Let's draft him!

http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/glazer-mettenberger-jernigan-failed-drug-tests-at-combine-050514

Not so fast son. FYI Dr. Hoorta worked in a hospital lab for 25 years, and I know a thing or two about drug tests. Mettlenberger didn't fail for a substance- he failed because his pee wasn't up to what the "authorities" think was a normal concentration. And that's damn easy to measure. Well, yes, you can covertly dump water into a pee to try to dilute out a drug. There's also a shit ton of legitimate reasons you can wind up with a low specific gravity- that's the technical term- in urine. Starting with drinking a boatload of water. What? You can't drink a bunch of Gatorade before you work out? Plenty of legit medical reasons on top of that.

If Metlenberger is "clean" by his account- his agent has every right to bitch. BTW, what happened to HIPPA confidentiality requirements? If I had leaked the result of a drug test on a high profile client in that manner, I would have been fired on the spot.

And no, I'm not interested in Mettlenberger for the Browns irregardless of a drug test.

@canton-mike said:

Bottom line: With the combine ahead of you, knowing some substances are banned, & you use them anyway, are you really smart enough to learn an NFL playbook and/or respond to NFL level coaching? I have my doubts. That's like showing up for a job interview wearing dirty clothes. Impressive, hunh?

Mike

Regarding drugs, 100% correct Mike. No it's like applying for a job where you know you're going to be drug tested, and you do them anyway.

[jrb12711]

@canton-mike said:

Bottom line: With the combine ahead of you, knowing some substances are banned, & you use them anyway, are you really smart enough to learn an NFL playbook and/or respond to NFL level coaching? I have my doubts. That's like showing up for a job interview wearing dirty clothes. Impressive, hunh?

Mike

+1 on that. As with many others a little weed doesn't bother me, it's the conscious decision to do something you know will hurt your value. I get it, these guys are young and stupid but still that's gotta be a little concerning.

[Kosar_For_President]

I never understood this, couldn't they flippin wait till the off season? Go drink a beer for fuck sake.

[miktoxic]

yeah weed is the one of the most harmless drugs out there, but you know what's less harmless? not doing it.

so if you know it stays in your system for a month after smokin it and you know you have no self control wouldn't you assign someone to watch you 24/7 (agent......making money, correct?) until the combine and making damn sure you WON'T test positive by giving you multiple tests before walking into indianapolis?

i know not everyone got popped for weed BUT it'd be hard pressed for me as a GM to take anyone that shows up on that list, great player or not.

[The Gipper]

Again, what Hoorta is saying about Mettenberger, and about some of these others is that they did NOT test positive for drugs, but that their urine sample had a higher water content than normal. i.e. it was diluted.

Now, I don't know what chemical elements go into a normal urine sample, but apparently just like going to a bar and getting a diluted drink.....or like getting a cup of coffee that is so weak that it tastes like dishwater, your urine liquid can have a higher than normal just regular water component to it if you drink a lot of water.

Being a borderline diabetic, I have taken to drinking a lot more water as a way to dilute my blood sugar so it won't go too high.

My piss would probably be diluted as well.

So, maybe Mettenberger et al were just overhydrated when they took their test. It could be as simple as that. (and, sure, I suspect that some may "overhydrate" as a way to "contaminate" the urine sample)

[jrb12711]

@hoorta said:

Not so fast son. FYI Dr. Hoorta worked in a hospital lab for 25 years, and I know a thing or two about drug tests. Mettlenberger didn't fail for a substance- he failed because his pee wasn't up to what the "authorities" think was a normal concentration. And that's damn easy to measure. Well, yes, you can covertly dump water into a pee to try to dilute out a drug. There's also a shit ton of legitimate reasons you can wind up with a low specific gravity- that's the technical term- in urine. Starting with drinking a boatload of water. What? You can't drink a bunch of Gatorade before you work out? Plenty of legit medical reasons on top of that.

correct me here cause I honestly don't know. My high school had 'random' drug tests where essentially 3 known potheads and 2 super proper kids were tested (like I was). Anyway, the kids who smoked swore that drinking tons and tons of water over a two day period (smoke on Friday, drink water Sat-Sun) would flush their system out and let them pass the test. I never really hung out with the kids, but one guy always did pass supposedly doing this. Is that actually true, and if so I'm assuming that's why it triggers a failed test?

[JAFBF]

@jrb12711 said:

correct me here cause I honestly don't know. My high school had 'random' drug tests where essentially 3 known potheads and 2 super proper kids were tested (like I was). Anyway, the kids who smoked swore that drinking tons and tons of water over a two day period (smoke on Friday, drink water Sat-Sun) would flush their system out and let them pass the test. I never really hung out with the kids, but one guy always did pass supposedly doing this. Is that actually true, and if so I'm assuming that's why it triggers a failed test?

I've heard that all the extra fluids causes you to have a "diluted" sample, and this makes some drugs harder to detect, so could be.

Back to the topic.

So were these failures Herion, Cocaine, Marijuana, Ridalin, Steroids, HGH . . . ?

Might change the picture a bit, even though it's still a failure and still stupid.

[hoorta]

@jrb12711 said:

correct me here cause I honestly don't know. My high school had 'random' drug tests where essentially 3 known potheads and 2 super proper kids were tested (like I was). Anyway, the kids who smoked swore that drinking tons and tons of water over a two day period (smoke on Friday, drink water Sat-Sun) would flush their system out and let them pass the test. I never really hung out with the kids, but one guy always did pass supposedly doing this. Is that actually true, and if so I'm assuming that's why it triggers a failed test?

It's possible. Depends on the sensitivity of the test they're using. The "cheaper" tests look like a little plastic rectangle with sensitized dots on it to detect common drugs of abuse,THC, opiates, cocaine, etc. A developer makes the dots turn color if it's positive. Hmmm- now exactly when did that dot look like it was tuning pink to you? However- some of the real expensive tests can just about detect individual molecules of a drug. Like a tenth of a nanogram- that's one ten billionth of a gram, and there's 28 grams to an ounce. As a cyclist, I would really like to know how Lance Armstrong managed to beat those hundreds of drug tests he took- could have been taking designer steroids they weren't testing for. .

@jafbf said:

I've heard that all the extra fluids causes you to have a "diluted" sample, and this makes some drugs harder to detect, so could be.

Back to the topic.

So were these failures Heroin, Cocaine, Marijuana, Ridalin, Steroids, HGH . . . ?

Might change the picture a bit, even though it's still a failure and still stupid.

Testing for individual drugs- like ritalin and adderal (that Joe Haden got busted for) are really expensive. Not so much the opiates and THC category. HGH isn't detectable in pee, you have to use a blood test to see if the levels of the substance (everyone has some HGH in their bodies) if it's way outside of what would be considered a "normal" range.

LOL, as a laboratory professional, I sure can, and have questioned where they pulled these "normals" from. Doctors in Ohio are on a mega Vitamin D "the sunshine vitamin" kick. I asked my doctor if they pulled the normals from highway workers in Florida.

[miktoxic]

i got a surprise test once after doing a lot of shit one weekend. this is before they really knew what they were doing. the guy even let me go to my locker where i immediately decided to put some enzyme cleaning drops (from wearing contacts) in my piss. i put the little 1/2 0z. bottle down my pants and was able to maneuver without drawing attention to the fact that i was squeezing this solution into the piss bottle. i almost shit when i handed it to the sergeant and it started to fizz over. made some stupid comment like "i guess i had too much beer? and walked away.

don't know why if the NFL gets diluted samples they don't make the person wait there and retest them.

[slowburn]

Been taking piss tests for 35 years. I always kept a condom of fresh urine in my pant pocket. Would stick a hand warmer down there to bring specimen to within temperature tolerance per drug lab protocols. Specific gravity always within limits with fresh, clean piss sample.

[The Gipper]

@slowburn said:

Been taking piss tests for 35 years. I always kept a condom of fresh urine in my pant pocket. Would stick a hand warmer down there to bring specimen to within temperature tolerance per drug lab protocols. Specific gravity always within limits with fresh, clean piss sample.

You be's one sick puppy. Walking around with a condom of urine in your pants.

"Oh, hello, are you happy to see me or do you have a condom full of urine in your pants"

Hope nobody bumped into you.

[Tour2ma]

lol... who was it that was caught with a fake penis full of clean urine? The subject had previously flunked so had to be observed "filling the cup". The fake penis did not fool the observer.

EDIT: It was an Italian runner...

http://www.ibtimes.com/devis-licciardi-italian-long-distance-runner-busted-using-fake-penis-clean-urine-pass-doping-test

@jrb12711 said:

Anyway, the kids who smoked swore that drinking tons and tons of water over a two day period (smoke on Friday, drink water Sat-Sun) would flush their system out and let them pass the test. I never really hung out with the kids, but one guy always did pass supposedly doing this. Is that actually true, and if so I'm assuming that's why it triggers a failed test?

Yes... it is also why companies have gone to testing hair follicles which retain drug residue for months. There have been employees who shave their entire bodies to avoid sample collection... and have been terminated as a result.