NBA RESUMES TESTING PLAYERS FOR POT

NEW YORK (AP) - The NBA resumed testing its players for marijuana use
Wednesday after the league and union met to discuss a breach of the
confidentiality agreement.

The identities of two players who tested positive for marijuana were
revealed to The New York Times, although the newspaper did not name them in
a story about testing being suspended.

Only a handful of the league's 29 teams have not yet been tested, a process
that should be completed by early next week. This is the first season in
which players are being tested for marijuana and steroids.

Veterans can only be tested once, unless they produce a positive sample.
Rookies are tested throughout the season.

"The entire process is confidential by mutual agreement and it needs to
remain that way in order to work," league spokesman Chris Brienza said. "So
we will not be commenting on reports that surface or day-to-day operations
of the program."

Billy Hunter, director of the players union, said the confidentiality
agreement precluded him from discussing the six-day hiatus in testing.

It was clear, however, that the disclosure of the identities of two players
who tested positive had caused trouble between the union and the league. The
information is considered highly sensitive, and both sides were suspicious
that the other had leaked the names.

Even the players themselves did not know they had tested positive until a
reporter from The Times alerted them. The drug agreement says players who
test positive will not be told so until all the testing is completed.

The Times report also said that six players had tested positive for
marijuana during the first week of testing, which began in early October.
Teams are not notified in advance of the date of their tests, and players
have typically arrived at practice to find representatives from the league
and union waiting for them to produce urine samples.

"The press asked for it, the commissioner asked for it, we used it during
the (collective) bargaining session to get something we wanted," union
president Patrick Ewing said recently. "We gave it up, that's it. No sense
crying about it."

The drug agreement, technically separate from the league's labor agreement,
also calls for drug testing of such personnel as trainers, coaches and
assistants.

Commissioner David Stern and deputy commissioner Russ Granik also were
tested, Brienza said.

The union sent a latter to all players in September urging anyone who smoked
marijuana to come forward and seek treatment if they feared they would
produce a dirty sample.

A first-time offender must undergo mandatory counseling, and a second
positive test would include a $15,000 fine. Subsequent positive tests would
result in five-game suspensions.

"They let us know about it, so it shouldn't be a problem," Knicks forward
John Wallace said. "It's just a matter of doing what you've got to do to
make sure that when the time comes you're right."

Teammate Allan Houston welcomed the policy, saying it seemed overdue.

"I'm just disappointed that it is treated so lightly in general, not just in
our league," Houston said, referring to marijuana. "That's the problem, it's
not a problem of testing. You'd think it wouldn't be a problem because we
are professional athletes, but the problem is that it's glorified in some
areas of our culture.

"I remember when I was in high school, I looked at that as crack. But now,
it's like a cigarette, and I think that's why it has become what it is in
our league," Houston said.