Reasonable weed will now be legal for NCAA athletes in football championships.
According to The Hill, cannabis products will not be banned for Division I athletes in championships, the NCAA announced last Tuesday. The NCAA said they will treat marijuana like alcohol now.
Recently, the Division I Council announced, “The decision to remove cannabis products from the banned drug class for its championships and postseason participation in football will be effective immediately.” Additionally, the council said the current penalties against athletes who tested positive for cannabinoids will be discontinued.
“The NCAA drug testing program is intended to focus on integrity of competition, and cannabis products do not provide a competitive advantage,” Josh Whitman, chair of the council, said. “The council’s focus is on policies centered on student-athlete health and well-being rather than punishment for cannabis use.”
The NCAA has a drug-testing program, which includes steroids, peptide hormones and masking agents all through the year. Amid the championships, it, too, tests for narcotics, stimulants as well as “recreational drugs,” according to the website.
Other drugs on the banned substance list are stimulants, narcotics as well as peptide hormones.
Folks using cannabis in sports were thrust into the spotlight following professional runner Sha’Carri Richardson being ostracized from the USA Olympics team in 2021 after testing positive for marijuana. Since then, she has made it onto the team for the 2024 Summer Olympics thanks to winning the U.S. trials two weekends ago.
For her sake — along with those who readily push for weed for medicinal use — many advocates pushed for a change in the policy right after she missed the team in 2021. Still, cannabinoids, except cannabidiol (or CBD), remain a banned substance to the World Anti-Doping Agency.
Celebrating the NCAA’s decision to combat and succeed in this perceived shortcoming was Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), who is the co-founder of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus.
“Slowly, surely, America is coming to its senses after 50 years of the failed war on drugs. It is only fitting that the NCAA remove cannabis from its list of banned substances as Sha’Carri Richardson qualifies for the 2024 Olympics — an accomplishment she earned years ago but was wrongly taken away. Common sense is finally prevailing,” he said.
