• Follow us on Twitter @buckeyeplanet and @bp_recruiting, like us on Facebook! Enjoy a post or article, recommend it to others! BP is only as strong as its community, and we only promote by word of mouth, so share away!
  • Consider registering! Fewer and higher quality ads, no emails you don't want, access to all the forums, download game torrents, private messages, polls, Sportsbook, etc. Even if you just want to lurk, there are a lot of good reasons to register!

Ricky Williams (official thread)

wolfamngstsheep

All-American
Sources: Ricky Williams violates NFL drug policy



Your Dolphins Source[size=-1]
Latest Palm Beach Post Headlines
Sources: Williams failed drug test
Dolphins shuffle offensive assistants
• Elmore: This bad call was Wannstedt's
Heated competition at safety
Wannstedt: Boston isn't a lock to start
Aggies hope Dolphins reunion surpasses college days
• Notebook: Returner hopes to recover top form
Dolphins look for quicker rhythm on offense
Bowens facing plenty of pressure
First impressions important


Get exclusive team insight from Post Dolphins writer Joe Schad and post a reply.
• Audio: Joe on ESPN Radio 760

Quarterback School
Check the schedule and make plans to attend spring and summer practices.
NFL Draft: Review the picks

Dol-Fan Forum
Critique Miami's offseason moves and debate hot issues on the message board.

More Exclusive Resources
• Schedule: 2004 games, team links
• E-mail Updates: Get FREE newsletter
• Photos: See Dan Marino's career
Full Dolphins, NFL coverage [/size]


Friday, May 14

By Jose Lambiet and Joe Schad
Palm Beach Post Staff Writers

<SPAN class=body>

Miami Dolphins running back Ricky Williams faces a $650,000 fine after violating the NFL's substance abuse policy, sources told The Palm Beach Post.

This was Williams' second violation since he has been with the Dolphins, sources close to the case said. Williams, 26, is appealing the fine that the league imposed when a drug test he took on Dec. 10, 2003, turned up positive for marijuana. Another failed test would result in a four-game suspension.

The sources said Williams was seen at NFL headquarters in New York on April 16, the date of the appeal.

"I'm in good standing with the NFL and the Dolphins," Williams said Friday. "There is not a story here. I was in New York a few weeks ago and I did visit the league headquarters.

"I guess that's how rumors get started. But I was just visiting friends in the city and I just decided to go in. I will be at training camp on Tuesday."

The sources said Williams' lawyer, high-profile Fort Lauderdale criminal attorney Gary Ostrow, accompanied him on his visit to the league offices.

"I'm not in a habit of discussing my relationship, professional or otherwise, with professional athletes," Ostrow said, adding that he would not comment further.

According to NFL documents seen by The Post, Ostrow filed arguments with the league titled "NFL vs. Player #909965J." In it, Ostrow questions the integrity of the league's drug-testing system.

Williams scored a 15 on the league's testing scale -- the NFL's lowest positive score and consistent with what an occasional marijuana user would score. Another sample came back at 14 (traces of marijuana at a concentration of 14 nanograms per milliliter of urine).

Under league policy, two samples are taken at test time. If the "A" sample is positive, the player can request that the "B" sample be tested. A second sample need only show that the substance is evident for the first sample to be declared valid.

"Ricky is pretty confident he's going to beat this thing," one source said. "When he took the test, for example, he was dehydrated after exercising. Dehydration sometimes causes people who would be negative to test positive."

Dr. Gary Wadler, professor of medicine at New York University and an international expert in doping, said he has never heard of an athlete using dehydration as a successful drug defense.

"Clearly, athletes will search every method they can including analyzing each rule very precisely, the handling of the sample and the validity of the laboratory," Wadler said. "But marijuana is not a substance that occurs normally in the body and the only argument you can really make is passive inhalation. But for a cutoff above that level? You smoked. And you inhaled."

The league is expected to announce to Williams its decision at the end of the month.

"He's been in New York this week with all of the crap that's been going on," a source close to Williams said. "If they tested all of us for weed, half of America would be out of work. I know the guy who's helping us out is good because he used to do the drug stuff for the NFL. I know the attorney. He's a good friend. Ricky should come out of this all right."

The sum of $650,000 is consistent with the league's fining guidelines -- an amount 4/17 of a player's annual salary -- for someone who tests positive while in Stage Two of the NFL's intervention program. Williams, who said he is not in an intervention program, first tested positive for marijuana shortly after arriving in Miami from New Orleans in May 2002, sources said.

Because it was his first offense, he was placed in Stage One of the intervention program, which lasts up to 60 days. In Stage Two, a player can be tested as many as 10 times a month. As determined by a medical director, he also must undergo weekly drug group-therapy sessions and call a special NFL hot line, sometimes hourly, to report his whereabouts.

"He was just weeks away from getting off the intervention program," one of the sources said. "Officially, he would have been off intervention on Super Bowl Sunday. He has tested negative more than 100 times before. But then, this thing happened. He now gets back into intervention for another two years."

Dolphins spokesman Harvey Greene said the team "can't comment on any player because of the confidential nature of the program unless the league announces a suspension."
 
Dehydration sometimes causes people who would be negative to test positive

:lol:

I think he's confused. I'm not positive, but a diabetic who is severely dehydrated will start forming ketones...which MAY be picked up by a breathlyzer as alcohol. Not positive, but that's the only reasonable thing I can think of.
 
Upvote 0
"If they tested all of us for weed, half of America would be out of work. I know the guy who's helping us out is good because he used to do the drug stuff for the NFL. I know the attorney. He's a good friend. Ricky should come out of this all right."

Nice spin job there.

I'm sure if I were making close to $7 million per year I could lay off the weed.
 
Upvote 0
We got into that debate over at BN over Thurman Thomas. Pot....big deal. Grad's comment about Gold Seal reminds me of a story. A buddy of mine was working for Insight and had a drug test about 2 months in. He had smoked some pot, and taken some pain killers within a recent amount of time. He took one of those tests that guaranteed him double his money back....and still failed. When he told me I said "Well at least you get double your money back" ....he looked at me and said "I just lost a job....You think that stupid 40 dollars is going to make it better". So, my point is...how many people that have to go through drug tests, would actually feel compensated from their guarantee.
 
Upvote 0
Ricky needed some of Mrs. Seinfeld's urine. Granted, he may lose some respect in the lockerroom because "his" urine would show that he's menopausal and possibly in the early stages of osteoporosis, but no $650,000 fine.
 
Upvote 0
tibor75 said:
Dehydration sometimes causes people who would be negative to test positive

:lol:

I think he's confused. I'm not positive, but a diabetic who is severely dehydrated will start forming ketones...which MAY be picked up by a breathlyzer as alcohol. Not positive, but that's the only reasonable thing I can think of.


Is that how the breathalyzers work (the digital ones anyway)? Ketones aren't chemically anywhere near alcohols though. Surprsing they are picked up. I know in some of the manual/color ones that the -OH will make chromium turn from green to orange (or vice-versa can't remember).
 
Upvote 0
I found this on the internet:

Question:
From Kansas, USA:

My teenage son, a type 1 diabetic for 2 years, recently failed a breathalyzer test for alcohol. I know he had not consumed alcohol of any kind. His blood sugars had been very high for several days before the test and his reading at the time of the test was 383. Could he have failed the test due to acetone in his breath?

Answer:

The simple answer is that yes indeed breath acetone could interfere with older versions of the breathalyzer test and cause a false positive result. I don't know the circumstances in which the test was required; but if this is a drunk-driving case then you should know that modern test instruments can distinguish between acetone and other volatile compounds in the breath like ethyl alcohol, isopropanol and methyl ethyl ketone and so of course can a blood test. You might want to press for evidence that the positive test really was due to alcohol and not acetone.

There is a considerable literature on this theme and if you have access to a medical library you might want to explore it. Some relevant examples are as follows:

Jones AW. Interfering substances identified in the breath of drinking drivers with the Intoxilyser. J.Analytical Toxicology. 20:522,1996.
'Driving under the influence of acetone'. Jour. Toxicology-Clinical Toxicology 35:419,1997 (letter).
Smith DJ et al. Jour. Forensic.Science 30:349,1990 -A review of the incidence of contaminants in a large number of tests in the Seattle area.
Gullberg.RG Forensic Science International 67:65,1994. 'Frequency of apparent acetone in a group of alcohol data...'
 
Upvote 0
bucknuts44820 said:
hey if you want to smoke it, thats your business, but if your "job" says no then have the self discipline to not to.


Just another cry baby millionaire!

I definitely see your point. But. Weed is not performance enhancing. Steroids or coke or heroine- things that are performance enhancing or seriously threatening to your health- then that's something else.

If its me, then I just lay off the grass. You can drink as much alcohol as you want so get a designated driver and have fun- but of course, at the end of the night, you still want the weed and your judgement is very poor.
 
Upvote 0
A guy I work with is real good friends with Matthew Hatchette and Matt told him a few years ago at the Super Bowl, Ricky Williams was so high on cocaine that he was stumbling down the street and didn't know where he was and Isiah Thomas of all people, finally got a hold of Ricky and took him back to his hotel room to get off his high.

I guess around the NFL Ricky's drug problems are pretty common knowledge.

It's amazing how he hasn't tested positive more often!
 
Upvote 0
according to theantidrug.org Ricky could be addicted to Marijuana, and as a result is showing poor judgement


spacer.gif
marijuana_pic.gif
Marijuana




Usually smoked as a cigarette or joint, or in a pipe or bong, marijuana has appeared in "blunts" in recent years. These are cigars that have been emptied of tobacco and re-filled with marijuana, sometimes in combination with another drug, such as crack. Some users also mix marijuana into foods or use it to brew tea. The main active chemical in marijuana is THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol). Short-term effects of marijuana use include problems with memory and learning; distorted perception; difficulty in thinking and problem-solving; loss of coordination; and increased heart rate, anxiety, and panic attacks

 
Upvote 0
Thump said:
A guy I work with is real good friends with Matthew Hatchette and Matt told him a few years ago at the Super Bowl, Ricky Williams was so high on cocaine that he was stumbling down the street and didn't know where he was and Isiah Thomas of all people, finally got a hold of Ricky and took him back to his hotel room to get off his high.

I guess around the NFL Ricky's drug problems are pretty common knowledge.

It's amazing how he hasn't tested positive more often!


IF he's got a Coke problem, Miami's the last place he should be living.
 
Upvote 0
Back
Top