NBA approves cannabis use for players

Under a new collective agreement, the NBA (National Basketball Association) allows players to use cannabis.

Upon ratification, the NBA will remove cannabis from its drug testing program. The NBA previously halted testing for cannabis in 2020 amid Covid-19 fears.

NBA approves cannabis use for players

Once players and team governors ratify the deal, it becomes official. And it’s about more than just allowing professional NBA players to smoke cannabis.

The deal allows players to sponsor or invest in cannabis companies, as well as other things unrelated to cannabis, such as: B. The ability for players to invest in WNBA teams.

In a statement released on Twitter, the National Basketball Players Association said, “Specific details will be provided once a term sheet is finalized.”

While the NBA suspended testing in March 2020, in late 2021 the NBA announced that it would no longer randomly test gambling on cannabis. At the time, NBA spokesman Mike Bass said the league wanted to “focus our random testing program on performance-enhancing products and drugs of abuse.”

Some NBA players – including Hall of Famers Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Allen Iverson – have spoken openly about their cannabis use. Both men would like to see the federal government legalize it.

What makes cannabis a PED?

While the NBA legalizing cannabis users is headed in the right direction, it’s no surprise. As previously mentioned, since the Covid hysteria swept the world three years ago, the NBA has rolled back its enforcement of cannabis prohibition.

And while cannabis might be considered a “performance-enhancing drug,” it pales in comparison to anabolic steroids, human growth hormone, erythropoietin, beta-blockers, and stimulants.

Cannabis becomes far more “performance-enhancing” when you’re a musician trying to write a tune, a writer stuck on a plot, or an engineer trying to think outside the box.

Despite this, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is against cannabis. According to WADA, cannabis is banned in competition because it has a sedative effect and can affect an athlete’s coordination, reaction time and judgement.

You don’t see how that translates into an increase in performance.

Especially when public health busybodies keep telling us how cannabis impairs cognitive function, memory and attention, and negatively impacts cardiovascular and respiratory function. As well as “causes” decreased motivation and ability to perform complex tasks.

So, depending on who you ask, cannabis is a performance-enhancing drug that WADA is rightly banning from competitive sport.

Or it’s a performance-impairing drug that reduces cognition and action. So there’s no reason for the NBA to say no to cannabis.

Which is it? Performance enhancing or performance reducing? If cannabis were a performance enhancer, shouldn’t we encourage people to drive stoned?

Perhaps it is a flower with no inherent power of its own? Perhaps the only power it has is the ideas we attribute to its effects.

What about other national sports?

Assuming the deal goes through, NBA players can enjoy cannabis. But what about other national sports? Like America’s answer to Roman gladiators: the National Football League.

Like the NBA, the NFL relaxed its cannabis rules amid the Covid scare. But they haven’t done away with cannabis testing entirely.

But while the NBA looks to remove cannabis from its drug testing program, the NFL isn’t ready to budge just yet. Officials say it will remain banned by the NFL as it remains illegal under federal law.

However, some speculate that this is just internal NFL policy.

The league has a collective agreement with the players. If they abolished cannabis testing, the league would expect something in return from the NFL Players Association.