Just over eight years ago, NBA star Chris Herren crashed his car into a telephone pole in Fall River, Massachusetts. When paramedics arrived, he had been dead for half a minute. Luckily, Herren survived the incident, but his issues with drugs and the law were indicative of a much bigger trend in the NBA. Drug use of every kind, including heroin, cocaine, PEDs, and alcohol, was being seen in record numbers across the sport, and Herren was only one of many.

Just last month, free agent O.J. Mayo, formally of the Milwaukee Bucks, was banned from the NBA for drug use. While it’s unknown exactly in what capacity Mayo was using drugs, he was suspended in 2011 for using PEDs. The NBA is required to disclose if the drug in question was a PED, and since they did not, it’s likely the drug used falls under the NBA’s list of banned substances, which includes amphetamines, cocaine, LSD, opiates, and PCP. Mayo’s likely not the first, either. Last year, Lamar Odom, a two-time NBA championship winner, was found unconscious in a brothel in Nevada. He was in a coma for three days, and experience multiple strokes and kidney failures, but still recovered. It wasn’t Odom’s first encounter with drugs, either. He had seen multiple DUIs and drug arrests over the past five years, and is now currently reported to be once again engaging in drug abuse. So why are NBA stars, who are subjected to drug tests and screenings, so susceptible to drug abuse?

Traditionally, the NBA has been called too lenient in their drug testing policies, with lawmakers referring to them as “pathetic,” or “a joke”. The league performs four tests each season, and two in the off-season. While that sounds like a significant amount, it has large gaps. Not only do players get advanced notification of tests, but due to the spacing of these tests, it’s possible that players engage in “microdosing”, or taking small enough doses so that the effect of the drug is still felt, but it’s no longer present in the body by the time of the test. Most notably, the blood isn’t tested, meaning strong traces of some drugs will go undetected. With this lack of meaningful testing, it’s not surprising that many slip through the cracks and go unnoticed, leading to serious drug use throughout the NBA.

Chris Herren’s story fortunately didn’t end on that road in the middle of the night. Herren now travels the country, sober since August of the same year of that fateful night, lecturing about his struggles with drugs and his process to overcome them. He has started multiple charities and foundations to help mentor young basketball players on and off the court, in the hopes that they can avoid the same lifestyle that almost ended his life. With more awareness of the issues facing players in the NBA, and more players like Herren embracing their past to make a meaningful change in the world, hopefully the NBA and their players can recover from the scourge of drug abuse.

Sources

https://www.espn.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/51305/gaps-in-nba-drug-testing

https://deadspin.com/nba-bans-o-j-mayo-for-violating-anti-drug-program-1782965570