Unlike Russian skater Kamila Valieva—who competed in the Winter Olympics after failing a drug test—American sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson was banned from the Summer Games for a positive marijuana test. Her exclusion has become a matter of heated debate.
When 21-year-old American star sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson was disqualified from the Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo after a positive marijuana test, it left many asking, “Should cannabis use by athletes be prohibited?”
“[Richardson] was doing something legal in the state that she was in for reasons that, frankly, seemed perfectly understandable—to deny her the chance to compete at the highest level just seem to me absolutely ridiculous,” says Angela Bryan, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Colorado Boulder. “I definitely think that [WADA] should take a look at more current evidence and reevaluate their position.
Since 2011 there have been several published review papers in which researchers evaluated the available research on this issue. Many of them—including one co-authored by the current medical director of WADA—have come to the same conclusion: no convincing evidence exists that cannabis can make athletes better at their sports.
There is some anecdotal evidence suggesting that cannabis use before a workout is fairly common—although what that means for performance is unclear. A few years ago, Bryan and her colleagues carried out an online survey of approximately 600 people living in U.S. states where marijuana is legal, and around 70 percent of them reported using the drug shortly before exercise.
The potential harms of cannabis can come in many forms, McDuff says. They include a greater risk of accidents—as suggested by reports of the drug impairing driving abilities—and psychosis in a subset of individuals predisposed to the disorder and cannabis addiction. Some studies suggest addiction occurs in around 9 percent of users, with people who start using the drug at an early age facing the greatest risk.
This has resulted in changes within professional sports as well. For example, the Ultimate Fighting Championship , which follows USADA’s rules but not WADA’s, permits the use of cannabis except when an athlete intends to use it for performance enhancement. Under those rules, a case such as that of Richardson, in which the substance was used to deal with grief, would not have led to a ban, says Matthew Fedoruk, chief science officer of USADA.
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