Proponents say that THC does not improve athletic performance. So why is it forbidden?

“It’s not a steroid. It’s not a development hormone. It’s nothing to make you run quicker, bounce quicker, throw quicker — furthest factor from that,” stated Joseph M. Hanna, a Buffalo, New York, legal professional who shouldn’t be working with Richardson however has represented main sports activities league franchises {and professional} athletes. “It has extra of a possibility to gradual you down than to hurry you up.” Associated

Advocates say THC doesn’t improve sports activities efficiency. So why is it banned? Nonetheless, marijuana is on the World Anti-Doping Company’s prolonged checklist of prohibited substances, that are both banned from use solely by athletes or banned throughout competitors durations. Marijuana falls underneath the latter class, that means it’s prohibited from getting used from 11:59 p.m. on the day earlier than a contest by the tip of a contest.

The U.S. Anti-Doping Company, which introduced Richardson’s optimistic check Friday morning, is a signatory to the World Anti-Doping Company’s code, together with america Olympic & Paralympic Committee. Meaning it follows the foundations set forth by the worldwide group. Richardson, 21, consumed THC within the state of Oregon, the place leisure marijuana is authorized. However Oregon’s legislation has no bearing on World Anti-Doping Company guidelines, and due to this fact, not on U.S. Anti-Doping Company guidelines, both.

Sha’Carri Richardson competes within the Girls’s 100 Meter Semi-finals on day 2 of the 2020 U.S. Olympic Observe and Discipline Workforce Trials at Hayward Discipline on June 19, 2021 in Eugene, Ore.Patrick Smith / Getty Pictures file To be on the checklist, a substance should meet no less than two of the next standards: the substance must be thought of a efficiency enhancer; it should probably pose a well being danger to athletes; and its use should violate the “spirit of sport,” which the company’s 2021 code defines as “the celebration of the human spirit, physique and thoughts,” including that it displays the values of sports activities, resembling character, teamwork and “enjoyable and pleasure.”

Neither the U.S. Anti-Doping Company nor the World Anti-Doping Company responded to questions from NBC Information about whether or not THC was presently thought of to be a violation of all three of the standards on the prohibited substances checklist. Steven Hawkins, the interim president of america Hashish Council, a commerce group looking for to legalize hashish within the U.S., known as the 2011 report absurd, arguing there was no empirical proof that THC enhances athletic efficiency and excoriating the declare that it posed a well being danger.

“If an athlete likes a drink, that could be a well being danger. If an athlete smokes a cigarette, that poses a well being danger. If an athlete likes to have an enormous, fats, greasy cheeseburger, that poses a well being danger. These items don’t have anything to do with an athlete’s efficiency,” he stated. In a 2011 paper, the World Anti-Doping Company argued that smoking hashish was a efficiency enhancer as a result of it improves oxygenation and decreased nervousness forward of competitions.

On Friday, Richardson instructed NBC’s “TODAY” present that she had turned to marijuana earlier than the Olympic trials after studying from a reporter that her organic mom had unexpectedly died. The 100-meter sensation, who was raised by her grandmother, described her response to the information as being “simply blinded by feelings, blinded by badness.” In a 2011 paper, the World Anti-Doping Company argued that smoking hashish was a efficiency enhancer as a result of it improves oxygenation and decreased nervousness forward of competitions.

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