A bench warrant was issued for Detroit Lions running back Mikel Leshoure after he failed to report for a marijuana possession arraignment Monday afternoon.
Leshoure’s latest arraignment stemmed from a March 12th arrest in which he was caught trying to stuff marijuana in his mouth. The officer immediately told Leshoure to spit the drugs out which he did and later said most of what he put in his mouth was potpourri.
The incident began when Leshoure’s friend was pulled over for failing to signal a turn and driving too closely to the car in front of them on I-94.
Read the entire police report here
This was Leshoure’s second run in what the law in the past two months both of which involved marijuana possession. According to CBS Detroit, Leshoure was first stopped Feb. 18 in Benton Township and charged with possession of marijuana; he pleaded guilty March 1 to a lesser charge of use of marijuana and paid $485 in court costs and fines.
A question though starting to emerge concerning Leshoure is will the NFL come down on him for his offseason legal trouble?
Phillip Zaroo of Mlive.com writes that Leshoure could miss the first four games of the NFL season based on the NFL’s new substance abuse policy.
Here’s Zaroo’s outline of the policy…
Players’ statuses within the league’s three-stage program is confidential, but we can try to understand a few potential scenarios.
When Leshoure was ticketed on February 18 for possession of marijuana – a charge which was later dropped to use of marijuana, incurring $458 in fines for Leshoure on March 12 – he would have entered into Stage One intervention.
Stage One intervention means a player will be assigned to a regional team that “shall evaluate the player promptly.” The medical director of the regional team may determine the player does not need further treatment, which normally means the player is no longer in the intervention program, but is subject to testing.
Because Leshoure would have entered the program based on behavior (defined by the NFL as “including but not limited to an arrest related to an alleged misuse of substances of abuse, which, in the judgment of the Medical Director, exhibits physical, behavioral, or
psychological signs or symptoms of misuse of substances of abuse”), he could have been immediately released from the program and assigned “the same status as players who have never been referred to the intervention stages.”In that case, Leshoure’s second offense, which occurred on March 12, would have caused him to re-enter the intervention program as Stage One.
If, however, Leshoure was referred to a clinic and still in Stage One when the second incident took place, it seems he would be subject to punishment as a Stage One offender. The discipline includes a loss of three weeks’ salary and advancement to Stage Two of the intervention program.
In Stage Two, players are subject to mandatory treatment, up to 10 random drug tests per month and potentially more evaluation.
Another possibility, however, is the medical director could have determined Leshoure’s behavior required “specific clinical intervention and/or treatment,” and automatically advanced him to Stage Two.
Assuming the medical director made such a judgment was made, and Leshoure was notified, before the second offense, the 21-year-old could be subject to a first-time Stage Two offender. Under this worst-case scenario, he would be suspended without pay for the Lions’ first four regular season games, and would be subject to a fine.
Download a PDF copy of the 2010 NFL substance abuse program
Ref: Mlive.com, CBS Sports Detroit
