January 22, 2015

NCAA To Change Marijuana Testing Policies

January 22, 2015
ncaa marijuana
ncaa marijuana
via wikipedia

The NCAA has some of the most hardcore marijuana testing rules on the planet. To put it into perspective, the Olympics allow up to 150 ng/ml of THC in an athletes blood before there is a failed test. The NCAA is only 5 ng/ml from my understanding. After two Oregon Duck football players were suspended for marijuana for the national title game, there was a renewed outcry for reform. It appears that the NCAA was listening. Per the Huffington Post:

The NCAA’s drug committee wants a new policy that will “focus on educational programs instead of a traditional testing model,” the association says.

The NCAA’s Sport Science Institute staff will work on this new policy.

The Drug Policy Alliance, of course, was happy to hear it. Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the group, says:

Punishing athletes for marijuana use has nothing to do with fairness or safety in competitive sports and everything to do with inappropriate extensions of the drug war into American life. It’s great to see the NCAA join with other sports associations in revising this hypocritical and harmful policy.

What the rules will end up looking like is still in the air. But they should be better than what’s currently in place. I get that there should be drug testing to catch athletes that are using steroids and other substances that clearly give a substantial edge over other athletes that don’t use the substances, but marijuana should not be on that list at all. Marijuana helps a lot of things, but running faster and jumping higher are things that marijuana does not enhance. And after all, these young adults are in college. Expecting them to not consume marijuana or be around marijuana in anyway is just unrealistic.

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