Why is marijuana banned at the Olympics?
When the women’s 100m dash is run, America’s fastest woman Sha’Carri Richardson won’t be there. She received a one-month suspension for testing positive for THC, the active ingredient in marijuana. Some have complained that it was not fair to test for marijuana, even going so far as to call the Olympics racist.
I was a Doping Control Medical Officer at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic games, an NCAA drug testing Crew Chief, and have been a Medical Review Officer (a physician certified to review federally regulated drug tests) for 100’s of thousands of drug tests. Here are the facts.
Drug testing in Olympics is not just about whether a substance is legal or illegal. Most substances on the banned list are legal with a prescription. Even over the counter substances such as pseudoephedrine and ephedrine are forbidden. In 1972, American swimmer Rick De Mont was stripped of his gold medal when his urinalysis showed ephedrine.
The Olympic policy on marijuana is actually quite lax. It is only banned during competition. Olympians are subject to un-announced year-round testing for many substances, but not THC. Athletes can toke up all they want between competitions. Moreover, the Olympic cutoff for THC is high-150ng/ml. This level is 10 times higher than the cutoff level used for employee drug testing programs. It takes considerable marijuana use to get a level above 150 ng/ml.
The decision to ban a substance is based on 3 criteria. If 2 criteria are met, the substance is banned.
The ability to enhance performance is only one of the 3 criteria. If you believe, like 36 States’ legislatures, that marijuana has medicinal properties, then you would believe that it could improve performance by alleviating pain, treating muscle spasm, relieving anxiety, etc. Therefore, an argument can be made that it meets criterion number one.
The second criterion is whether the substance represents a potential risk for the athlete. Marijuana can impair perception and executive functions. THC-impaired athletes could endanger themselves and others in high-velocity sports such as downhill skiing and bicycle racing, for example.
Right there, marijuana meets 2 criteria and is banned.
The third criterion is a little vaguer. A substance is banned if it Interferes with the “spirit of sport” including fair play and setting a good example. The ideal of the Olympics is that the best athlete wins, not the athlete who takes the optimal combination of potentially dangerous drugs. Also, the USA does not set the rules. It is the International Olympic Committee that is in charge, and marijuana is still illegal in most of the world. By the way, before you say “what about alcohol,” alcohol testing has been done at the Olympics too. My first job at the 1996 games was to breathalyze volleyball referees. Seems that they had a problem with them showing up drunk at a previous tournament.
Annnnnndddd……………. NBC is suffering the worst ratings for an Olympics that has ever been seen in a long time. People are just not interested anymore. It remains to be seen if Covid is “contained” whether or not sport will be interesting again to the masses.
There’s a lot on people’s minds. Maintaining a job, cost of living (thanks Joe Biden), family issues and who has time to watch anymore anyways? Besides, I ditched cable a year and a half ago and use an online subscription service to stream stuff more economically. I did get 1 Gig fiber optic internet service at a bottom dollar price hence it’s easy to stream.
Kurt
This whole Olympic craze is riddled with problems. Larry Nassar…..how many knew what was going on….this may be just a little bit bigger issue than pot. Also I just learned that Taiwan is not really participating…it is China Tipei with a fake flag…..The Olympics are about the least important thing in the news today. I am much more interested in getting my third shot!
Pretty good breakdown, I enjoyed the insight. To which I add:
1. Pot should never have been illegal.
2. For that matter, there never, ever should have been a War on Drugs, which can never, ever be “won.”
3. Richardson is an idiot who sacrificed significant time and effort for something she could easily have deferred.
Very informative. Thank you.
Clearly you just go by pre-1970s information on marijuana effects. #2 is categorically false. If weed can endanger others, then so can literally every sedative. Also would be overeating. Cramps can make a rider fall into others.
Just admit the rules are subjective and dependent on opinion. Maybe don’t let Usain Bolt’s inner crew also do his testing?
I for one can’t take the Olympics or the IOC seriously until they quit the bribing and stop destroying the local economy.
If number 2 is false, why is it still illegal to smoke weed and drive a car? That is a dangerous high velocity activity that is agreed upon even where weed is legal, that is not safe. Clearly this substance impairs your perception, or why would people use it recreationally?
I used it occasionally back in my college days- the 1970’s. I am not sure if I actually inhaled it. I do not believe it helped me run any faster, but I would be willing to enroll as a subject in a test to see if it would help my nearly 70 year old body improve physical functions