{"id":49096,"date":"2021-07-27T07:31:40","date_gmt":"2021-07-27T15:31:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2021\/07\/27\/another-top-global-sports-official-suggests-marijuana-penalties-for-athletes-should-be-reevaluated\/"},"modified":"2021-07-27T13:45:34","modified_gmt":"2021-07-27T21:45:34","slug":"another-top-global-sports-official-suggests-marijuana-penalties-for-athletes-should-be-reevaluated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2021\/07\/27\/another-top-global-sports-official-suggests-marijuana-penalties-for-athletes-should-be-reevaluated\/","title":{"rendered":"Another Top Global Sports Official Suggests Marijuana Penalties For Athletes Should Be Reevaluated"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

The head of the international track and field organization World Athletics has joined the choir of sports officials who are calling for an reevaluation of marijuana penalties for Olympic athletes following the suspension of U.S. runner Sha\u2019Carri Richardson<\/a> over a positive cannabis test.<\/p>\n

Sebastian Coe, president of World Athletics and a Olympics gold medal-winning runner himself, lamented the suspension and said it\u2019s \u201csensible\u201d for the governing bodies to take another look at the marijuana ban for athletes.<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing is set in tablets of stone,\u201d he said<\/a>, according to The Associated Press. \u201cYou adapt and occasionally reassess.\u201d<\/p>\n

But while he said that Richardson\u2019s punishment means \u201cwe have lost an outstanding talent,\u201d he still said that the rules were properly enforced, even if those rules should change.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to sound like Joe Biden, but the rules are the rules and that is the way they have been interpreted,\u201d he said, referencing comments the president made this month<\/a> similarly expressing disappointment over the decision to suspend the star runner.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not an unreasonable moment to have a review\u201d of the international marijuana policy, Coe said. According to Reuters, the official added<\/a> that he has spoken to the chairman of the Athletics Integrity Unit about undertaking a formal review of current policies.<\/p>\n

Coe is far from alone in saying it\u2019s time to reconsider cannabis penalties in sports. Athletics officials and lawmakers alike have argued that Richardson\u2019s suspension for using marijuana in a legal state after learning of her mother\u2019s death highlights the need for reform.<\/p>\n

Edwin Moses, a two-time Olympic gold medal winner for track and field, and emeritus chair of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), appeared before a congressional panel<\/a> co-chaired by Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) last week and said the runner\u2019s punishment was \u201cheartbreaking\u201d and his organization has \u201calways been on the side of more liberalization of the marijuana laws with respect to doping.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cohen, who also blasted the penalty\u00a0for Richardson<\/a> and urged federal action to end cannabis prohibition at a separate congressional hearing last week, said the case that\u2019s made national headlines \u201cis such a shame.\u201d<\/p>\n

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) made clear in a letter<\/a>\u00a0to 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,\u00a0made 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

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\u00a0may be time for a reevaluation of the marijuana prohibition<\/a>\u2014but in that statement, it explicitly called for a policy change.<\/p>\n

Also this month, the White House press secretary expressed sympathy for the runner and suggested reform may be appropriate.<\/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

Congress To Vote On Marijuana, Psychedelics And CBD Amendments This Week Following Committee Action<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

Photo courtesy of Mike Latimer.<\/em><\/p>\n

The post Another Top Global Sports Official Suggests Marijuana Penalties For Athletes Should Be Reevaluated<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n


\n
\nRead More: Another Top Global Sports Official Suggests Marijuana Penalties For Athletes Should Be Reevaluated<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The head of the international track and field organization World Athletics has joined the choir of sports officials who are calling for an reevaluation of marijuana penalties for Olympic athletes following the suspension of U.S. runner Sha\u2019Carri Richardson over a positive cannabis test. Sebastian Coe, president of World Athletics andContinue 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],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49096"}],"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=49096"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49096\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49097,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49096\/revisions\/49097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}