MLB, players' union resume drug testing after lockout ends

NEW YORK (AP) — Major League Baseball and the players' association resumed drug testing Friday after an absence of nearly 3 1/2 months.

Testing with penalties had been in place from 2004 through last Dec. 1. It was halted the following day because of management's lockout.

Opiates and opioids were added as drugs of abuse to the Joint Drug Program as part of the memorandum of agreement signed Thursday. Mandatory unannounced urine testing will be conducted at random times throughout spring training rather than in conjunction with physicals.

Blood testing for Human Growth Hormone will be conducted by dried blood spots rather than blood draws, subject to agreement by outside experts, although draws are allowed for reasonable cause.

Team physicians are allowed to write short-term prescriptions for pain medication as long as entered in the medical records system.

Follow-up testing following a positive test will run for the 12 months starting the notice of discipline rather than the collection of the sample. The sides also agreed to a joint investigation on whether contaminated meat products in the Dominican Republic could cause positive tests for the performance-enhancing substances Boldenone and Nandrolone.

___

More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports