{"id":49056,"date":"2021-07-23T05:11:27","date_gmt":"2021-07-23T13:11:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2021\/07\/23\/u-s-sports-authority-backs-liberalization-of-marijuana-laws-official-tells-lawmakers\/"},"modified":"2021-07-23T13:46:13","modified_gmt":"2021-07-23T21:46:13","slug":"u-s-sports-authority-backs-liberalization-of-marijuana-laws-official-tells-lawmakers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2021\/07\/23\/u-s-sports-authority-backs-liberalization-of-marijuana-laws-official-tells-lawmakers\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Sports Authority Backs \u2018Liberalization\u2019 Of Marijuana Laws, Official Tells Lawmakers"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

A representative of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) this week shifted blame for the Olympics suspension of U.S. runner Sha\u2019Carri Richardson<\/a> over a positive marijuana test, saying the national sports organization is \u201cheartbroken\u201d over the case and supports \u201cliberalization\u201d of current bans but claiming that its hands are tied with respect to enforcing international drug policy.<\/p>\n

Edwin Moses, a two-time Olympic gold medal winner for track and field, and emeritus chair of USADA, appeared before a federal commission at a hearing on international sports on Wednesday and was pressed by panel co-chair Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) about the controversial suspension.<\/p>\n

Cohen, who earlier in the day blasted the penalty<\/a> for Richardson and urged federal action to end cannabis prohibition at a separate congressional hearing, said the case that\u2019s made national headlines \u201cis such a shame,\u201d especially considering that the runner admitted to using marijuana in a legal state after learning about the death of her mother.<\/p>\n

\n

He also repeated a joke he made hours before that cannabis is \u201cnot a performance enhancing drug unless you\u2019re involved in the hot dog eating contest on the Fourth of July at Coney Island.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moses replied that the Richardson situation \u201cwas one of the most heartbreaking cases that we\u2019ve had this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough there was a handful of similar cases from the beginning of the year\u2014and so it was not the first case of its kind\u2014we\u2019re heartbroken at USADA to have to adjudicate any of these cases because, in many cases, there\u2019s lots of reasons for drug use,\u201d he told Cohen and other members at the hearing<\/a> of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (also known as the Helsinki Commission).<\/p>\n

Moses said the athlete \u201cadmitted what she did\u201d and was aware of the potential consequences under international policy but argued that USADA has \u201calways been on the side of more liberalization of the marijuana laws with respect to doping.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve moved and promoted changing the regulations, bringing the level [of permissible THC concentrations in drug tests] higher to eliminate cases of out-of-competition use, which in certain states is legal,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not banned out of competition. However, she just got caught within that window. We have been trying everything we can to get the world to understand how this drug fits into the scheme of things.\u201d<\/p>\n

The sports official also noted that the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is a comprehensive body comprised of \u201c650 organizations,\u201d and \u201cneither the United States Olympic Committee nor USADA nor the [USA Track & Field] have anything to do with making up the rules.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn most countries in the world, it\u2019s still an illegal substance,\u201d Moses said. \u201cAnd there\u2019s countries in the world that under no circumstance will they ever be as liberal as we are.\u201d<\/p>\n

But WADA recently made clear in a letter<\/a> to Reps. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) this month that the U.S. itself played a leading role in imposing the cannabis prohibition. And the first president of WADA, Richard Pound, made similar comments in a recent interview<\/a> with Marijuana Moment, pointing to how the country essentially bullied the rest of the world in including cannabis on the banned substances list.<\/p>\n

At the hearing, Cohen said he recognized that enacting reform is an onerous task, and it\u2019s one that he\u2019s faced over his career as a member of Congress.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaking good laws like is slow as molasses, and the cultural lag that we experience is awful,\u201d he said. \u201cI know it\u2019s tough, and I hope you\u2019ll put your best efforts\u201d toward changing the marijuana policy at the international sports level.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause it\u2019s the law and because it\u2019s the rule doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s right,\u201d the congressman said. \u201cThey should be changed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Advocates appreciated that Cohen\u2019s questioning got USADA to publicly flesh out its position on marijuana use by athletes.<\/p>\n

\u201cUSADA told Congress, right to its face, that the policy of prohibition and stigmatization of cannabis consumers is wrong,\u201d Justin Strekal, political director for NORML, told Marijuana Moment. \u201cThe remaining question is when will the House take action to end the mandate that organizations like USADA, the DEA, ONDCP, and others stop criminalizing otherwise law-abiding Americans?\u201d<\/p>\n

Since Richardson\u2019s suspension was announced, there\u2019s been widespread and largely bipartisan criticism of the rules, especially as more states move to legalize. But officials have consistently pitted blame on other agencies and governments for enacting the prohibitionist policy in the first place.<\/p>\n

USADA also responded to the letter from Raskin and Ocasio-Cortez, and it asserted that the rules on marijuana for international athletes \u201cmust change.\u201d USADA had previously expressed sympathy for Richardson and indicated that it may be time for a reevaluation of the marijuana prohibition<\/a>\u2014but in that statement, it explicitly called for a policy change.<\/p>\n

USADA wrote that \u201cPresident Joe Biden described the way forward best when he said\u201d that the \u201crules are rules,\u201d\u00a0but those regulations may need to be reevaluated<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Also this month, the White House press secretary\u2014like USADA\u2014expressed sympathy for the runner and indicated that it\u00a0may be time for a reevaluation of the marijuana prohibition<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Press Secretary Jen Psaki previously\u00a0declined to condemn Olympics officials\u2019 sanction<\/a>\u00a0on Richardson when asked about the issue at a briefing with reporters earlier this month, but she told CNN in the newer comments that the case highlights the need to \u201ctake another look\u201d at the rules on cannabis, especially in light of the decision to bar the athlete from a second event that fell outside the scope of the 30-day suspension.<\/p>\n

USA Track & Field also said recently that international policy on cannabis punishments for athletes\u00a0\u201cshould be reevaluated.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0And following Ocasio-Cortez and Raskin\u2019s letter, a separate group of\u00a0lawmakers also sent a letter to USADA<\/a>\u00a0last week to urge a policy change.<\/p>\n

\n

Chuck Schumer Discusses Strategy For Getting Enough Votes To Pass Marijuana Legalization Bill<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

Photo courtesy of Max Pixel<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

The post U.S. Sports Authority Backs \u2018Liberalization\u2019 Of Marijuana Laws, Official Tells Lawmakers<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n


\n
\nRead More: U.S. Sports Authority Backs \u2018Liberalization\u2019 Of Marijuana Laws, Official Tells Lawmakers<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A representative of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) this week shifted blame for the Olympics suspension of U.S. runner Sha\u2019Carri Richardson over a positive marijuana test, saying the national sports organization is \u201cheartbroken\u201d over the case and supports \u201cliberalization\u201d of current bans but claiming that its hands are tied withContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[99,18,81,126],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49056"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49056"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49056\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49057,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49056\/revisions\/49057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}