Former NFL player Adam “Pacman” Jones said he used to smoke marijuana all the time while he was playing, but he never faced any punishment for it because he was able to outsmart the NFL.
If you’re wondering how he did that, Jones revealed his secret this week on Deion Sanders’ Tubi show “We Got Time Today.” Jones said he “cheated” the NFL’s drug program by using someone else’s urine.
“People don’t know how smart I am, but I could say it now, I don’t play no more,” Jones said via The Athletic. “I’ve never used my piss for a piss test. Not one time. Not one time.”
Although Jones never got caught, at least one player did. Back in 2005, former Vikings running back Onterrio Smith was caught at an airport with a Whizzinator, which is a contraption that helps you beat drug tests.
After listening to Jones’ story, Sanders chimed in and said Jones’ strategy for cheating the system wouldn’t work today, something that the former Titans and Bengals player disagreed with.
“It can happen if you know what you’re doing,” Jones said. “Don’t say it can’t happen, Pop.”
Jones entered the NFL in 2006 when the Tennessee Titans made him the sixth overall pick in the NFL Draft. Jones ended up playing 12 NFL seasons, so he likely took plenty of drug tests. Although he did get suspended for a full year in 2007 for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy, the one-time Pro Bowler was never suspended for failing a drug test even though he smoked pot throughout his career.
“Well, I never stopped smoking,” Jones said of how often he smoked in his career. “I’ve always smoked, while I played, after I played, now. I am a high advocate of THC.”
The 2014 All-Pro played for four different teams over the course of his career, including the Titans (2005-07), Cowboys (2008), Bengals (2010-17) and Broncos (2018).
During Jones’ career, the NFL had a strict drug policy toward marijuana and THC. A player could be suspended four games for failing four tests and that suspension number jumped to 10 games for five failed tests. A player who failed six tests could face a season-long suspension.
Players don’t have to worry about that now. The NFL softened its marijuana policy in 2020 when the threshold for a positive THC test was bumped up from 35 to 150 nanograms-per-milliliter. That change was part of the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, which also eliminated suspensions as a punishment for a positive THC test. The NFL once again updated the league’s drug policy in December in a move that lowered the fine amounts for first and second time offenders. (The threshold for a failed THC test was also bumped up again, going from 150 nanograms to 350.)
If Jones was playing now, he wouldn’t have to worry as much about beating the system since he wouldn’t be facing a suspension for a failed test.