National Football League

How did Aaron Hernandez pass NFL drug tests?

Published Apr. 6, 2015 10:37 a.m. ET

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By Steve DelVecchio

Former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez is currently being tried for murder, so his legal team has been more than willing to concede that he is a habitual marijuana smoker when it helps their defense. Still, Hernandez’s alleged drug habit has left more than a few football fans curious about how he never failed a test.

Ben Volin of The Boston Globe spoke to a source who used to be affiliated with the NFL’s drug testing program, and he shed some light onto how Hernandez may have gotten away with smoking weed so often and for so long. Unlike with the NFL’s performance-enhancing drug policy, players are typically only tested for recreational drugs once during a specific time frame each year.

According to Volin’s source, the NFL tests for substance abuse drugs at the beginning of training camp, and the testing is done by position group. If a player passes that test, he basically knows he is in the clear for the remainder of the season.

The exception is players who are in Stage 1 or beyond of the NFL’s drug program, which happens after one positive test. Those players are subject to more random testing that can be done up to 10 times per month. Despite Hernandez admitting that he smoked marijuana in college, he must have passed his drug test at the NFL Scouting Combine.

“There’s no way, in my mind, Aaron Hernandez was in Stage 1, because if he was he would’ve gotten caught,” one former NFL medical personnel told Volin. “The most logical conclusion is he stopped smoking in June, passed his test in July, then smoked all he wanted for 11 months of the year.”

In addition to knowing when he was in the clear to smoke as much as he wanted, Hernandez may have also used masking agents that can be found at many vitamin stores. If you remember, a story from Rolling Stone magazine back in 2013 indicated that Hernandez used heavier drugs than just weed. But, even still, those drugs would only be tested for before the season.

Hernandez’s own fiancee, Shayanna Jenkins, admitted under oath that Hernandez smoked weed every day. Alexander Bradley, the man Hernandez allegedly shot in the face over a disagreement at a nightclub, testified that he used to sell Hernandez anywhere from one to four ounces of marijuana per week.

Assuming that Hernandez was not in the NFL’s advanced drug program and was very careful around testing time, you can see how he may have gotten away with being such a stoner.

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