The World Anti-Doping Agency accuses the US of severely punishing cannabis use We

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Following the suspension of sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson from the Tokyo Olympics, a much-needed debate about how cannabis fits into drug testing has dominated national discourse for the past two weeks. But a recent exchange between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) showed how these draconian rules will still apply in 2021 – and nobody wants to be credited.

On Friday, USADA President Travis Tygart wrote a letter to US Congressmen Jamie Raskin and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in response to concerns that Richardson had been wrongly punished. “MS. Richardson’s expulsion from the Tokyo Olympics is a heartbreaking situation and that the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) rules regarding marijuana need to be changed,” the letter said.

The letter went on to say that the USADA “advocates more flexible and fairer rules for the use of marijuana by athletes” and that the organization supports blood or oral testing methods instead of urine testing like Richardson. Like President Biden, Tygart concluded by saying that the organization was “proud” of Richardson for its reasoned response to the suspension. Ultimately, the mood of the letter made WADA to blame.

Several lawmakers have since voiced the hope that the USADA will reverse its decision to suspend Richardson.

But WADA immediately disagreed, saying the USADA had continued to play an active role in upholding harsh sentences for athletes who use cannabis.

“Since 2004 and not until 2021, the USADA has insisted without exception that cannabis should remain on the (forbidden) list,” said WADA.

“An important fact for the US Congress is that there are more representatives from the United States advising WADA on these scientific issues than from any other nation in the world,” the organization continued in a letter. “These decisions are not made in a vacuum.”

And WADA provided receipts, saying that WADA’s Health, Medicine and Research Committee had proposed in 2014 “to raise the threshold for a positive test to make the rule more liberal for athletes who use marijuana”. WADA believes the USADA has rejected the prospective change, fearing it will amount to lifting the ban on cannabis use on competition days.

The USADA replied to Reuters on this admission that they again deviated from the test’s form. “Oral fluids or a blood test are actually a better matrix for measuring consumption on the day of the competition, rather than measuring consumption days before the competition,” the USADA said.

Richardson tested positive for cannabis use during the U.S. Athletics Tests, where she delivered a dominant 10.72 second performance in the 100 meter run, positioning her as a favorite for the Olympics. The 21-year-old readily admitted to inhaling cannabis and stated that she was struggling with grief over her mother’s death.

The decision to remove Richardson from Olympic competition for using cannabis came at a time when many political decisions have penalized black female athletes, banning swim caps that fit natural black hair and monitoring testosterone levels of two African sprinters like a foundation for their inability to compete.