Prior to the start of the 2016-17 season, Rutgers instituted a new drug testing policy that calls for varying punitive and rehabilitative measures for athletes who test positive for performance-enhancing drugs but has reduced penalties for marijuana use.

NJ Advance Media obtained the Rutgers Athletics Alcohol and Drug Education and Testing Program document through an Open Public Records Act request. The 13-page document went into effect on Aug. 1, 2016, and superseded the previous drug testing policy that was created in 2008.

The previous Rutgers Athletics drug testing policy covered all of its 24 intercollegiate sports with the exception of football, which had a different set of enforcement measures.

Last month, the NCAA issued Rutgers with a Notice of Allegations, charging that the athletics program employed practices and procedures that violated the

institution's drug-testing policy by failing to sanction 30 football players when they failed their first drug test and alleging that 16 were allowed to play without disciplinary action over a four-year period.

Under the previous rules, it was up to the Athletics Director, in consultation with the football coach and the director of sports medicine, whether to suspend a football player for up to two weeks for a first violation. The suspension periods increased for second and third infractions, and a fourth violation resulted in a dismissal from the team.

The new policy covers all Rutgers teams, including football, and makes a clear distinction between performance-enhancing drugs and marijuana.

Each disciplinary stage includes educational counseling and requires mandatory drug-test monitoring. The sanctions include:

-- A first violation for a performance-enhancing drug (PED) or other hard-drug substance such as cocaine or heroin will result in the athlete receiving a suspension for between "0 to 10 percent'' of one season of competition. A first failed marijuana test won't result in a suspension.

-- A second PED or hard-drug violation will result in a suspension from approximately 10-to-25 percent of a season, while a second marijuana failed test will require a suspension from 0 to 10 percent of the current or upcoming season.

-- A third PED or hard-drug violation will result in a suspension from approximately 30 to 100 percent of the season, while a third marijuana violation will result in a 10-to-25-percent-of-the-season suspension.

-- A fourth PED or hard-drug violation will result in the dismissal from the team, while a fourth marijuana violation mandates the 30-to-100 percent game suspension.

-- A fifth violation for marijuana use will result in the dismissal from the team.

Athletes who successfully complete the mandatory treatment program without additional failed drug tests for one year can have a violation expunged once during the course of their time at Rutgers.

Head coaches also have the authority to institute their own rules, which may include more severe consequences for drug and alcohol use and violations than those in Rutgers' drug policy. They may also request that their incoming athletes be drug tested upon their arrival at Rutgers, but just-arrived players who test positive for marijuana via a baseline test will not be deemed a violation of the policy.

The percentage of time that an athlete is required to sit out will be determined by the Athletics Director, who can deviate from the aforementioned sanctions "in rare and exceptional circumstances.''

Rutgers AD Pat Hobbs said the new drug testing policy was a collaborative effort between the university's medical personnel, coaches, legal counsel and his senior administrative staff.

"It balances our concerns for our student-athletes' well-being with our desire to provide rehabilitation where necessary, and sanction when appropriate, including expulsion from the team ultimately,'' Hobbs said. "In the end I think it's a fair policy, and I think it's one that's consistent with the other FBS schools.''

The NCAA does not require its member schools to adopt a drug policy, but once a school adopts a drug-testing policy, the college athletics governing organization requires that the guidelines are strictly followed.

According to an Associated Press report in December 2015, 64 of the 65 Power Five programs have drug-testing measures in place, with Stanford being the lone exception.

The AP reported at least one-third of those major-conference schools are not punishing athletes as harshly as they were a decade ago for testing positive for marijuana use, citing the growing list of states have have legalized the use of recreational marijuana as a reason for the leniency.

But while schools can mandate and enforce their own drug policies, collegiate athletes are subject to random screening when participating in Big Ten and NCAA championship events.

While both organizations mandate year-long suspensions for athletes who test positive for a performance-enhancing drug, the NCAA in 2014 reduced violations for marijuana to a half-season and the Big Ten doesn't test for marijuana.

Hobbs said Rutgers officials used the drug testing policies from other Big Ten programs as a benchmark, and the intent was to "come up with a rational, fair policy for the student athletes.''

While he acknowledged that some would consider it to be a more lenient policy, Hobbs noted that a first violation requires counseling and he said that "immediately addresses what could be a problem.''

In an effort to improve its testing procedures, Rutgers hired an independent anti-doping laboratory -- Aegis Sciences Corp. -- to provide drug screenings and consultation services.

In an open letter to the Rutgers community last month, university President Robert Barchi said the school "overhauled oversight and reporting lines of the drug test program'' as the NCAA was investigating the program.

As the interim chief medical officer for athletics, Dr. Kinshasa Morton has oversight of the drug test program. A sports medicine specialist who is affiliated with Rutgers' Robert Wood Johnson Medical group, Morton was appointed in October 2016 -- two months before the NCAA charged Dr. Robert Monaco, the football team's director of sports medicine, with a Level II violation for allegedly failing to adhere to the team's drug policy.

School officials say plans to modify the drug policy have been in the works since the fall of 2015. In September of that year, the Rutgers football team's drug policy was mentioned in court.

Lloyd Terry, a backup fullback who was dismissed from Rutgers after he was charged with armed robbery, conspiracy to commit armed robbery and armed burglary, told police he failed multiple drug tests and became addicted to marijuana while on the team, according to Middlesex County First Assistant Prosecutor Christopher Kuberiet, who made the revelations during a bail hearing.

Federal privacy laws precluded Rutgers officials from commenting on those allegations at the time.

Click here to check out the full document outlining Rutgers' new athletics drug policy:

Keith Sargeant may be reached at ksargeant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @KSargeantNJ. Find NJ.com Rutgers Football on Facebook.