Why Marijuana is on the WADA Prohibited List

I agree it is a stupid rule. That being said, Richardson is a moron for jeopordizing her olympiic spot over some weed

One of the things I inadvertently learned during research in the early 2000s is that the addition of cannabinoids to the prohibited list was entirely USA-driven and based on their "war on drugs." No other country wanted it.

Little Dicky Pound wrote:

One of the things I inadvertently learned during research in the early 2000s is that the addition of cannabinoids to the prohibited list was entirely USA-driven and based on their "war on drugs." No other country wanted it.

Did you find in your research that THC/marijuana can be used as a masking agent?

Why isn't alcohol on the list? Heck let's just ban everything. The purpose of drug testing should be to discourage and punish athletes that take substances which give them an unfair advantage over competitors. Period. It should not be used as some sort of subjective moral standard.

blazin wrote:

I agree it is a stupid rule. That being said, Richardson is a moron for jeopordizing her olympiic spot over some weed

Agreed.

My research was about policy, so the science about specific substances rarely came up. However, the reason the cannabinoids story was raised by one interviewee was because pretty much all nations except the US (I hesitate to write "all nations" because I don't have that data in front of me) thought it did not qualify for the list based on WADA's criteria at the time. Countries are usually on board if a substance is performance-enhancing or a masking agent, and masking agents do meet WADA's criteria.

Keep in mind that this research was roughly 15 years ago and there have been some changes to the Code (but they're pretty minor, regardless of what WADA says).

First, I wish weed were federally legal and treated as is beer. That stated, do weed consumers who know you are going to be tested, need the weed so badly you do not care about ramifications of weed use or do weed consumers believe you all have a plan to beat weed tests?

Need to know wrote:

Little Dicky Pound wrote:

One of the things I inadvertently learned during research in the early 2000s is that the addition of cannabinoids to the prohibited list was entirely USA-driven and based on their "war on drugs." No other country wanted it.

Did you find in your research that THC/marijuana can be used as a masking agent

Exactly.

420 Dogecoin wrote:

usada.org/athletes/substances/marijuana-faq/

"For something to be added to the WADA Prohibited List, it must meet two of the three inclusion criteria: a) it poses a health risk to athletes b) it has the potential to enhance performance and c) it violates the spirit of sport."

According to USATF, this is why Marijuana meets the criteria

1. "Athletes who smoke cannabis or Spice in-competition potentially endanger themselves and others because of increased risk taking, slower reaction times and poor executive function or decision making.”

People get behind the wheel and kill others while high. If you get behind the starting blocks and are high and end up veering into a competitors lane, that could seriously injure them.

So USATF does have a point, as unlikely as it is for an athlete to show up to competition high, it is still possible.

Lots of defence for someone who tested for a banned substance.

Not a lot of discussion about abstaining from drugs.

What an unbelievably stupid rule. As if weed is on the same tier as literal EPO. And they wonder why track's viewership continues to decrease, keeping living in the stone age and it surely will.

Is it really any surprise. The Netherlands and other countries have know for decades that it's fine, but if there's one thing the U.S. can't do, it's follow the science and realize that the war on drugs was a shambolic failure.

I agree that the war on drugs is a massive failure. I also agree that weed/THC poses little to zero health threat to athletes. I don’t know if it is a masking agent, that would be the only reason to keep it on the banned list if true.

That said, an elite athlete should know that THC stays in your system much longer than alcohol and even if legal to consume should be avoided if you are competing. Even though she has a cocky persona, she showed a very humbled side when she won the trials. Would be a shame if weed is her only offense and can’t compete at the games.

This is getting all sorts of mainstream attention. Can we stop it with the rules are rules takes? These rules are outdated. We allow outright doping to occur out in the open with all of the medical exemptions that are given out. Whether she uses THC to relax or because she thinks it helps with recovery, idc. Athletes use tons of things to try to recover. This needs to change & isn't what we need to be focused on when it comes to doping.

420 Dogecoin wrote:

Marijuana is about as harmless as any drug can be.

While I agree with most of your post, the above is just not entirely true. Some people find it highly addictive, and for many it becomes a stepping stone for hard drugs.

(I work with addicts and recovering addicts)

And even if "the rules are the rules" may be a silly thing to say, the fact is that she is a professional and her job includes this rule, whether it is fair or not.

It's like a police officer having to wear a certain uniform, with a certain type of shoes. If a police officer dons a pair of Hokas he may feel more comfortable during the day but his job requires that he wears uncomfortable footwear and such are the rules he has to observe (or suffer the consequences).

PS: this may be the event that will see the rules being changed.

can someone who is so confident that THC can act as a masking agent please elaborate? what does it mask and how? seems to me that if that was true you would hear about a lot more weed positives.

also one thing to note is that THC and CBD are a package deal in the plant we call Cannabis sativa. CBD is federally legal, but nobody to my knowledge has been able to selectively breed a plant that produces 0 THC. the federal standard is that your crop has to be less than 0.3% THC, which a lot of CBD farmers view as too harsh. when they get a "hot crop" they are forced to trash it. all this to say that your grandma's CBD salve probably contains small amounts of THC.

rt6 wrote:

Why isn't alcohol on the list? Heck let's just ban everything. The purpose of drug testing should be to discourage and punish athletes that take substances which give them an unfair advantage over competitors. Period. It should not be used as some sort of subjective moral standard.

Well, surely alcohol can in no way be helpful to athletic performance, and is legal. I'm old school and believe that, in the criminal world, there is a connection between low level drugs and hard drugs. Also, there is consensus of opinion in medical profession that marijuana has lots of adverse health effects. Again, track and field should promote a fit and HEALTHY lifestyle, and marijuana doesn't fir in with that aim at all!

Hailewya wrote:

What an unbelievably stupid rule. As if weed is on the same tier as literal EPO. And they wonder why track's viewership continues to decrease, keeping living in the stone age and it surely will.

Before you go that route. NFL is always suspending guys for weed. Both are dumb rules:

Alcohol should surely be banned under this criteria. Alcohol is the THIRD leading cause of preventable death in the US, to say nothing of its other adverse health effects. But yeah, weed bad.