Sports leagues need to stop testing players for marijuana and allow to them to use it as an alternative to prescription opioids, cannabis icon Snoop Dogg said on Monday.<\/p>\n
During an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, guest host Stephen A. Smith asked Snoop about the issue\u2014which became an especially hot topic this summer following the suspension of U.S. runner Sha\u2019Carri Richardson<\/a> from participating in the Olympics over a positive marijuana test.<\/p>\n Smith, who is a sports commentator for ESPN, first asked Snoop whether he agreed with him in principle that athletes should avoid using cannabis to avoid being penalized and losing money.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, I agree with your position when it comes to the athletes who have commissioners and rules and regulations and tests and things that they have to deal with in their profession that could stifle them from getting their money,\u201d the rapper said.<\/p>\n \u201cNow when I\u2019m speaking to entertainers and people like myself, we don\u2019t have a commissioner, we don\u2019t have none of that,\u201d he continued. Athletes \u201ccan hang out with the rappers, but you can\u2019t do what the rappers do because the rapper don\u2019t have ramifications for what they do.\u201d<\/p>\n But whether there should even be ramifications for athletes who use cannabis is a different matter, Snoop said.<\/p>\n Leagues should relax their marijuana policies \u201cbecause what happens is a lot of times these athletes take these pills and they get addicted to these pills, and it still doesn\u2019t give them the relief that they need as far as with the pain or whatever they\u2019re going through,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThrough the CBD, through the THC, through the marijuana, through the cannabis, they\u2019re able to find a relaxation and getting the medical treatment that they deserve\u2014without having those later side effects\u2014so I push for that in sports,\u201d Snoop said, adding that it doesn\u2019t make sense that different sports leagues hold players to different standards when it comes to drug testing.<\/p>\n The idea of reforming the rules around marijuana in sports is gaining momentum, and Richardson\u2019s case led many to question why athletes are being punished for using a plant that\u2019s increasingly being legalized for medical and recreational use.<\/p>\n Richardson said last week that she\u2019s hopeful that her suspension from participating in the Olympics after testing positive for marijuana\u00a0will lead to an international policy change<\/a> for athletes, and she says she would be \u201cblessed\u201d if that happens as a result of her punishment.<\/p>\n The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) has expressed sympathy for Richardson<\/a> and asserted that the rules on marijuana for international athletes \u201cmust change.\u201d The White House press secretary\u2014like USADA\u2014also suggested that it may be time for a reevaluation of the cannabis prohibition<\/a>.<\/p>\n USA Track & Field has similarly said that international policy on cannabis punishments for athletes\u00a0\u201cshould be reevaluated.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) was among the lawmakers\u00a0who\u2019ve been critical of Richardson\u2019s suspension<\/a>. He argued last month that it is hypocritical that athletes would be penalized for using marijuana when alcohol use is largely tolerated. And he also said cannabis is only a performance enhancing drug in the context of food eating competitions.<\/p>\n At a separate\u00a0federal commission hearing on international sports<\/a> last month, a representative of USADA said in response to questioning by Cohen that the organization is \u201cheartbroken\u201d over Richardson\u2019s case and supports \u201cliberalization\u201d of current bans.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, advocates have broadly embraced internal marijuana policy reforms at other major professional athletic organizations, arguing that they are long overdue especially given the ever-expanding legalization movement.<\/p>\n NFL\u2019s\u00a0drug testing policy changed demonstrably<\/a>\u00a0last year as part of a collective bargaining agreement, for example. Under the policy, NFL players will not face the possibility of being suspended from games over positive tests for any drug\u2014not just marijuana.<\/p>\n In a similar vein, the MLB decided in 2019 to\u00a0remove cannabis from the league\u2019s list of banned substances<\/a>. Baseball players can consume marijuana without risk of discipline, but officials clarified last year that\u00a0they can\u2019t work while under the influence<\/a>\u00a0and can\u2019t enter into sponsorship contracts with cannabis businesses, at least for the time being.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, a temporary NBA policy\u00a0not to randomly drug test players for marijuana<\/a>\u00a0amid the coronavirus pandemic may soon become permanent, the league\u2019s top official said in December. Rather than mandate blanket tests, Commissioner Adam Silver said the league would be reaching out to players who show signs of problematic dependency,\u00a0not those who are \u201cusing marijuana casually.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Last week it was announced that the online marijuana marketplace Weedmaps is teaming up with NBA star Kevin Durant<\/a>\u00a0for a multi-year partnership that\u2019s aimed at destigmatizing cannabis and showcasing the plant\u2019s potential value for \u201cathlete wellness and recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n Once athletes are freed up to use marijuana therapeutically or for leisure, they could turn to Snoop for some helpful advice. In 2019, he and actor Seth Rogen gave some tips to novices on how to responsibly consume cannabis for the first time<\/a>.<\/p>\n California Shattered Marijuana Tax Revenue Record In Latest Fiscal Year, State Reports<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Image element courtesy of TechCrunch<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n The post Snoop Dogg Says Sports Leagues Should Let Athletes Use Marijuana Instead Of Opioids<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Sports leagues need to stop testing players for marijuana and allow to them to use it as an alternative to prescription opioids, cannabis icon Snoop Dogg said on Monday. During an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, guest host Stephen A. Smith asked Snoop about the issue\u2014which became an especially hotContinue 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":[99,18,126],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49586"}],"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=49586"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49586\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49587,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49586\/revisions\/49587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
\n
\nRead More: Snoop Dogg Says Sports Leagues Should Let Athletes Use Marijuana Instead Of Opioids<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"