Drug Test

Ravens safety Tom Zbikowski is appealing a 45-day suspension for failing a drug test after Saturday's victory in Thackerville, Okla. Seeking an "expedited" decision, Zbikowski sent a negative result from "a more in-depth test" to the Chickasaw Nation Boxing Commission on Tuesday, his attorney said. Zbikowski, who turned to boxing during the NFL lockout, was one of five fighters who tested positive for Tetrahydrocannabinol, the main substance in marijuana. "Tom was in shock," said Mike Joyce, Zbikowski's lawyer.

What if you're doctor smoked marijuana and then performed surgery on you? Not a comforting thought, but it could happen. That is why two Johns Hopkins doctors and patient safety experts say hospitals should make alcohol and drug tests mandatory for physicians. The doctors shared their views in a commentary published online April 29 in The Journal of the American Medical Association. They say doctors should also be tested if a patient dies suddenly or is unexpectedly injured during surgery.

It will be up to a federal court jury to decide whether Eric Carroll, formerly a police officer in the city of Westminster, is entitled to collect damages for his dismissal from the police force in the Carroll County seat. But the events leading up to his firing, which are alleged in the lawsuit, suggest that Westminster needs to tighten its drug testing procedures.The police department has a right to test its employees for drug BTC use, even those like Mr. Carroll who had a sterling record.

This spring, baseball is reeling from yet another ugly performance-enhancing drugs scandal. As fresh as the cut grass on the back fields of spring training complexes in Florida and Arizona are the reports that several major leaguers obtained PEDs from a Miami-area clinic named Biogenesis. The now-defunct anti-aging clinic is under investigation by Major League Baseball, but two separate reports have already linked a dozen names to the clinic. Among those linked is Orioles infielder Danny Valencia.

Heavyweight boxer Tony Tucker, who scored a first-round victory at the Forum in Inglewood, Calif. on Monday night, tested positive for marijuana in his postfight drug test, the State Athletic Commission said yesterday.Tucker, the IBF champion until Mike Tyson defeated him in 1987, stopped Lionel Washington in 1 minute, 11 seconds. Tucker, 32, had a series of cocaine abuse problems in recent years and was making a comeback under new management."He tested positive for a small amount of marijuana, which means he's temporarily suspended pending the result of the backup test of the urine sample," said Steve English, the commission's assistant executive officer.

Dontee D. Stokes, the man charged with shooting a Catholic priest he had accused of sexual assault, tested positive for marijuana last week while under home confinement at his aunt's residence, law enforcement sources said yesterday. Public safety officials gave Stokes the routine drug test Monday, three days after a judge placed him under house arrest while awaiting trial for the shooting two weeks ago of the Rev. Maurice J. Blackwell. Marijuana can stay in the body for as long as 30 days, and it is unclear when Stokes had last used the drug, law enforcement officials said.

Carroll school bus drivers say they shouldn't have to take a drug test every time a student on the bus gets in a fight or throws something out the window.A school official said yesterday that the drivers don't have to take a test on those occasions, but he wants to retain a policy that calls for a drug test after any incident or accident for which the cause isn't known.Current guidelines in the schools' policy for what constitutes an "incident" are too vague, said several bus drivers who brought their complaints to a school board meeting yesterday.

The Annapolis City Council's Rules Committee has scheduled a public hearing tonight on a bill that would require taxicab drivers to take drug tests.The plan, proposed by Alderman Wayne C. Turner, R-Ward 6, and Transportation Director James Chase, would require anyone applying for a taxicab driver's permit or getting one renewed to take a drug test. Cab drivers who fail the test would have their permits suspended.The proposal would also suspend permits for cab drivers and company owners charged or convicted of drug offenses.

Q. I have been told at various times by friends and co-workers that eating poppy seeds can cause one to test false positive for either marijuana or heroin on a drug test. Is this true, and if so, XTC which drug is it that one tests positive for? How many poppy seeds does one need to eat to test positive (e.g., would one bagel with poppy seeds have this effect)?A. Opiates (morphine and codeine, not marijuana) can be detected in urine for at least 48 hours after eating food with poppy seeds.

The Billy Boniface stable will drug test all of its stable employees in the wake of a cocaine-related suspension handed down to Boniface this week.Boniface, 48, was suspended for 15 days (Sept. 10-24) after on of the horses he trains, Lacy Underalls, tested positive for cocaine during a routine urinalysis. The filly was tested after she finished third in the fifth race at Pimlico on Aug. 17.Even though such incidents can be attributed as accidental under the rules the racing, the trainer is held absolutely responsible when such a positive test is returned.

In case you missed it last night, Orioles utility man Danny Valencia was linked to a now-defunct South Florida clinic, Biogenesis, that allegedly provided performance-enhancing drugs to Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez, among others. In a report that came out Tuesday night, Yahoo Sports had documents from the clinic that include Valencia's name, though the list doesn't connect Valencia to any specific performance-enhancing drug. On a national scope, Valencia, who is with his third organization since the beginning of the 2012 season, is a footnote.

Orioles utility player Danny Valencia has been linked to a South Florida clinic that allegedly distributed performance-enhancing drugs to several major league baseball players, according to a report from Yahoo Sports published online Tuesday evening . Valencia's name is listed on records obtained by Yahoo from a now-defunct clinic named Biogenesis, which the Miami New Times reported last week had provided PEDs to several major leaguers,...

Major League Baseball and the players association have agreed to take the next step toward eradicating performance-enhancing drugs from the game by expanding random blood testing for human growth hormone to during the season and conducting additional testing for testosterone. Last year, players were tested for HGH during spring training, the offseason and for reasonable cause. Minor league players have been tested randomly during the season since 2010. "I think with all of us and the players, all we are looking for is a level playing field," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said Thursday after the increased testing measures, effective this season, were announced . "We are trying to keep the fans' trust that what they are seeing is real.

I had a chance to talk to former Oriole Rafael Palmeiro about Wednesday's Hall of Fame announcement that the Baseball Writers' Association of America did not vote in anyone for the 2013 induction class . That includes Palmeiro, who was on his third year of the ballot and is one of just four players in the game's history to have at least 500 homers and 3,000 hits. He's also the only one on this year's ballot to have tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug. In 2005, months after he told a congressional committee that he had never taken steroids, a drug test found stanozolol in his system and Major League Baseball suspended him for 10 days.

First it was the drug testing, now it's the swim caps. Michael Phelps isn't being shy this year with his Olympic criticisms. On Twitter Thursday the Olympian expressed his displeasure with the new look of team USA's swim caps. His main gripe was their flaglessness. "Front and back of our caps...," he wrote on Twitter. "We used to be able to have front and back side with flags but for some reason there are rules that tell us we cant do that anymore? Smh gotta love an organizing committee telling us we can't do that anymore...

Deep thought from Michael Phelps: Is random drug testing really random? The Olympian seems to have his doubts. "Feel like my #randomness for drug testing is like the randomness at the security lines at airports...6 times in three weeks?? Really?" he Tweeted this afternoon. "And not saying its bad that they test... But a little excessive IMO... Just wonder if the other athletes out there are getting the "randomness" that I get... " Perhaps he's alluding to personal history.

AT MOST public schools in this country, landing a role in the school play means nailing the audition. The glee club? Hitting that high C. The debate team? Driving home a point. Now consider another requirement for participation in an after-school club: a drug test. Sound preposterous? It's not. Lindsay Earls, an Oklahoma high school student, didn't much care for the idea of urinating in a plastic cup to keep her place in the marching band. She passed the test, but found the process embarrassing and the policy unwarranted.

Twenty-six employees at the Baltimore City Detention Center failed a drug test and were fired by the state when it took over the jail July 1, according to a prison spokesman.In addition, an unknown number of the 36 people who failed to complete the hiring process declined to take the drug test and were not offered jobs, said Gregory M. Shipley, spokesman for the state prison system.About 850 employees at the jail, including correctional officers and others in sensitive positions, were required to take the drug tests as part of the state takeover.

A funny thing happened during the previous season of "Entourage" -- it actually got good. And not "good" in the typically dumb but satisfying "Entourage" way (pool parties with Bob Saget followed by renting a Maserati, for example), but rather the stakes were raised and consequences actually meant something. That can happen when an addiction to blow and a relationship with pornstar Sasha Grey enter the picture. (For a more extensive, smarter look at last season, read GQ's Sean Fennessey's piece from last August here .)

Ravens safety Tom Zbikowski had his 45-game suspension from boxing lifted Thursday, his lawyer said. Zbikowski was disciplined by Chickasaw Nation Boxing Commission when he tested positive for Tetrahydrocannabinol, the main substance in marijuana, after Saturday's fight. To resolve the matter, Zbikowski sent a negative result from a self-described "more in-depth test" on Tuesday. He learned that the suspended was over when he received a certified letter from the boxing commission around 4 p.m. Thursday.