Nevada just lifted its ban on THC for all professional fighters

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The Nevada State Athletic Commission [NSAC] decided on Wednesday that fighters who test positive for cannabis will no longer be punished. The decision is a big one as it will go to boxing and UFC games in the global fight night capital of Las Vegas.

The rationale behind the decision was the League’s belief that marijuana cannot properly be classified as a “performance enhancing drug,” a guideline of the World Anti-Doping Agency.

“I think our goal is to test for performance-enhancing drugs to ensure a level playing field,” said Bob Bennett, according to MMA Junkie. “The fact that [cannabis] is not a performance-enhancing drug, I don’t think we should test for it anymore. “

The UFC similarly repealed rules against cannabis use during exercise in January. In May, the Florida State Boxing Commission suspended all cannabis testing. But for years the martial arts industry has ruined careers because of athletes’ marijuana use.

“I’m pretty pissed off,” said UFC fighter Nick Diaz when he was banned for five years in 2014 for a positive cannabis test. “I wanted to tell you what I think,” he continued. “I wanted to tell each and every one of them that they are a bunch of idiots.”

Díaz is reportedly preparing for a comeback tour and accepted a blunt from his younger brother Nate, who is also a UFC fighter, at a press conference last month. Both Díaz brothers make no secret of their consumption – the younger one uses it as a promotional tactic and even smokes at press events, which he calls his own cannabis line, Kill 4209.

Kudos to NSAC for reading the writing on the wall when it comes to high-performance athletes and cannabis use. Unfortunately, the new rules on cannabis use don’t apply to past or ongoing cases. On the same day that the NSAC voted to end cannabis testing for the future, it decided to suspend two UFC fighters who tested positive before a fight in Vegas in March. Gillian Robertson was banned for four and a half months and fined $ 2,000. Misha Cirkunov was suspended for six months and fined $ 4,000.

The league has set the THC blood level for fights at 180 nanograms per milliliter. League officials stated that there must be visual signs of impairment in an athlete in order to conflict with the league.

While positive tests during training will not result in a reprimand now, fighters will continue to be tested for cannabis for at least the next six months. These data are likely to be useful in an ongoing League investigation into head injuries.

The suspension of the standout U.S. sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson from the Tokyo Olympics for a positive cannabis test has rightly put the spotlight on drug testing requirements for athletes.

Hopefully more sports organizations will begin researching the real effects of the drug on athletes’ lives.

“[The NSAC] did the right thing because they looked at the science behind it, ”Jeff Novitzky, senior vice president of athlete health and performance for the UFC, said on a local news show. “The reality is that science shows what you did a month ago what you did a week ago – hell, even what you do the night before a fight has nothing to do with being affected for the fight be.”