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Pot Lounge 5
Mixed martial arts athletes that compete in Nevada and partake in the stickiest of icky can now relax. The state has amended its drug policies to no longer include a positive marijuana test as a punishable offense starting July 7.
A positive test for Marijuana no longer a suspendable offense in Nevada
Today, the Nevada State Athletic Commission–the sanctioning body overseeing combat sports in the state–amended their anti-doping policy to allow for marijuana use in the lead-up to fights. Commission Executive Director Bob Bennett explained the rationale behind the shift in policy during a 40-minute conference call earlier today.
“According to the World Anti-Doping Agency, WADA considers marijuana to be a substance of abuse, not a performance-enhancing drug,” said Bennett. “I think our goal is to test for performance-enhancing drugs to ensure a level playing field. The fact that it is not a performance-enhancing drug, I do not believe we should test for it any longer.” [h/t MMAJunkie)
Despite recreational marijuana use being legal in Nevada since 2017, the commission has continued to follow a different set of guidelines that listed cannabis as a performance enhancer. Today’s ruling will bring relief to many fighters who use the psychoactive drug, for various reasons, and stopped during training camps or tried to find ways around positive results on state-mandated tests.
The new guidelines are retroactive on July 7, 2021. Meaning fighters like Gillian Robertson and Misha Cirkunov, two Ultimate Fighting Championship talents who tested positive for marijuana before the changes, will still face fines and suspensions based on the previous guidelines.
Robertson was fined $3,145.36 and will be eligible to return August 10, and Cirkunov was fined $4,145.36 and will be to return action on September 13.
You can still lose a bout if you dabble too hard on fight day
There is also a caveat to this new amendment. While there will no longer be punishments for marijuana found in test samples, if a fighter shows up to a fight impaired, similar to situations with alcohol abuse, commission officials will not let that fighter compete.
For the next six months, the NSAC will continue to test for marijuana as part of continued studies for “internal purposes.” After that six-month period, the commission will then vote on if they will extend the testing.
“If we don’t test for it, we lose a significant amount of data over a significant period of time that may be educational to the commission and its doctors,” commissioner member Anthony Marnell said on the call.
Nevada now joins California and Florida in making major changes to their anti-doping policies regarding marijuana use and follows the US Anti-Doping Agency’s decision to also alter their guidelines when it comes to punishments for use of the drug.
The change comes days before UFC 264. A pay-per-view event emanating from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and headlined by a highly anticipated trilogy fight between Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier.
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