ARMSTRONG: TIMES' DRUG STORY INCOMPLETE

NFL Players Association president and Dolphins defensive end Trace Armstrong
reacted tersely Tuesday to a story in The New York Times claiming at least
16 players who tested positively for drugs escaped punishment.

"No drug tests were thrown away, there was no looking the other way,"
Armstrong said, referring to a claim by The Times that there was a "secret
agreement" between the union and the NFL to ignore the tests.

"If whoever had written that article had [researched] that, they would have
found that out," he said. "But they did not elect to do that and they
elected to portray it in a light that we and the league were trying to cover
up drug tests, and that is simply not true."

Armstrong said the players were eventually put into a new system that was
negotiated between the union and the league in 1995. The new system was
started in 1996.

"Prior to 1995, we were all operating under an old drug policy, which was
universally implemented by the league. It was their brainchild, they put it
in unilaterally," Armstrong said. "We wanted a jointly negotiated drug
policy, a more treatment-oriented program. One that we both agreed upon.
When we signed the 1995 agreement, [we said] the guys currently under the
old program will be rolled into the new program."

Armstrong also said the depiction of the union as a quibbling organization
was certainly not unusual. The Times story, which was based on videotapes of
meetings in 1995, described many situations where there were loud arguments
and disagreements.

"If you've ever watched C-SPAN, you know that democracy is not always a
clean, orderly process," Armstrong said. "I've been to board meetings at
Fortune 100 companies, and it's not everybody sitting around in a suit and
tie, nodding their heads in agreement on everything. Our meetings can get
messy, like anybody else's."

The videotapes were given to The Times by an Orlando-based man who has sued
the NFLPA over alleged unpaid fees for a project commissioned by the union.
Armstrong said there was never a written agreement.