It is time to recognize the reality of THC in professional sports

By Jim Higdon, co-founder of Cornbread Hemp

Drug testing for THC in professional sports is almost dead as it should be – but not entirely. It still lurks in the corners like a zombie, ready to attack anyone who points at it. The NBA has ended random drug testing, but it still has a player testing policy “for good reason” that discourages those players from advocating for the league to end drug testing altogether.

The NBA is right to test performance-enhancing drugs that would give players an unfair advantage, but THC is not a performance-enhancing drug. The only reason it’s banned in sport is because of the federal government’s lie that cannabis is one of the most dangerous drugs in the world. It is not.

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For decades, sports leagues have done the dirty work of prohibiting cannabis, insisting that THC is incompatible with professional athletics when nothing could be further from the truth. If the NBA imposed a zero tolerance policy on cannabis use today, there wouldn’t be enough players for a full game.

Some recent estimates suggest that up to 85% of NBA players use cannabis, yet the NBA still maintains the charade of running a THC-free workplace. It doesn’t.

Everyone knows this. Even so, the leagues and players are locked in an eternal dance to keep the THC ban happening, where players have every possible option to avoid the consequences of that ban as long as they do not speak out.

This wink-and-nod system has taken its course. Legal marijuana jurisdictions are no longer the exception to the rule. They are the dominant norm in America today. Every team in every sports league is based in a city with some form of legal THC – even those who play in states with no legal marijuana.

The National Football League has 32 teams. Of those, 14 play home games in a state with legal marijuana, 11 in states with medical marijuana, and seven in states without legal marijuana – the Cowboys, Texans, Falcons, Packers, Colts, Titans, and Panthers.

Major League Baseball has 30 teams. Of those, 16 play home games in a state or province with legal recreational marijuana, 10 in states with medical marijuana, and four in states with no legal marijuana – the Brewers, the Braves, the Rangers, and the Astros.

The National Basketball Association has 30 teams. Of those, 14 play home games in a state or province with legal recreational marijuana, eight in states with medical marijuana, and eight in states with no legal marijuana – the Bucks, the Hornets, the Mavericks, the Spurs, the Rockets, the Hawks, the Grizzlies and the Pacers.

RELATED: Pucks & Pot: How the NHL Pioneered Cannabis Use in Professional Sports

The National Hockey League is the most exposed of any league to legal cannabis, with many teams playing home games in Canada where cannabis is completely legal. Of the 32 teams in the NHL, 22 play home games in a state or province with legal marijuana, seven in states with medical marijuana, and only three in states without legal marijuana – the Hurricanes, the Stars, and the Predators.

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But here’s the thing: even in the 14 states that don’t have legal marijuana, THC is still legal when it’s made from hemp. This has been the case since the Farm Bill was passed in 2018. As long as the THC comes from the hemp plant with no more than 0.3% THC and is processed into products that also contain no more than 0.3% THC, then this THC is legal.

And while 0.3% doesn’t sound like a lot of THC, it is enough to show up on a drug test, and that puts the job security of any worker who is subjected to a THC drug test at risk. That’s not true, since hemp THC is legal under federal law – even for the Dallas Cowboys and Atlanta Hawks players based in states without legal marijuana.

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No worker in the United States should face any consequences if they test positive for a legal substance used outside of the workplace. And not only professional athletes live under this hypocritical cloud. Millions of Americans, from nurses to truck drivers, fear losing their jobs if they test positive for THC after using legal hemp products.

At Cornbread Hemp, our mission is to improve the quality of life for our customers. And these outdated guidelines for drug testing for THC are obstacles to this mission. Consequently, we are doing everything in our power to educate and advocate phasing out THC testing in the workplace, starting with professional sports.

RELATED: Marijuana and Athletes – What You Should Know

We can no longer lie to ourselves about THC. It is used just as often as ibuprofen, maybe even more. Maintaining the fiction that professional sport is THC-free is just an act of denial that we can no longer afford.

It’s long time for sports leagues to recognize that their players are using THC in a way that doesn’t affect their performance in the workplace, rather than requiring their players to remain silent so the league can continue their drug testing. It’s time to end THC drug testing in professional sports.

Jim Higdon is the co-founder of Cornbread Hemp. He is from Kentucky and has degrees from Center College, Brown University, and Columbia University. Jim published Cornbread Mafia in 2012, leading to a journalistic career covering Kentucky for the Washington Post and cannabis policy for POLITICO.

This article originally appeared on Benzinga and was republished with permission.