{"id":50348,"date":"2021-10-06T11:47:50","date_gmt":"2021-10-06T19:47:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2021\/10\/06\/nba-wont-randomly-drug-test-players-for-marijuana-for-another-season-league-announces\/"},"modified":"2021-10-06T13:46:30","modified_gmt":"2021-10-06T21:46:30","slug":"nba-wont-randomly-drug-test-players-for-marijuana-for-another-season-league-announces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2021\/10\/06\/nba-wont-randomly-drug-test-players-for-marijuana-for-another-season-league-announces\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA Won\u2019t Randomly Drug Test Players For Marijuana For Another Season, League Announces"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

The NBA is extending its policy of not randomly drug testing players for marijuana<\/a>\u00a0through the 2021-2022 season, a league spokesperson confirmed on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver signaled late last year that the temporary suspension of cannabis drug testing may continue. And now Chief Communications Officer Mike Bass is confirming that\u00a0 the policy will be in place at least through the upcoming season that begins this month, according to The Associated Press.<\/p>\n

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NBA spokesman Mike Bass:
\u201cWe have agreed with the NBPA to extend the suspension of random testing for marijuana for the 2021-22 season and focus our random testing program on performance-enhancing products and drugs of abuse.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Tim Reynolds (@ByTimReynolds) October 6, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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\u201cWe have agreed with the [NBA Players Association] to extend the suspension of random testing for marijuana for the 2021-22 season and focus our random testing program on performance-enhancing products and drugs of abuse,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The development was first reported by ESPN, which obtained a memo on the issue that was recently circulated to NBA players.<\/p>\n

\n

Players won\u2019t be subject to random tests for marijuana this season, according to @NBPA<\/a> memo shared w\/ players and obtained by ESPN. That\u2019s been adjusted policy thru Orlando restart and 2020-\u201821 season. Testing continues for \u201cdrugs of abuse and performance enhancing substances.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) October 6, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Silver said in December that the league\u2019s decision on marijuana drug testing, which was made amid the peak of the coronavirus pandemic, could eventually become permanent<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe decided that, given all the things that were happening in society, given all the pressures and stress that players were under, that we didn\u2019t need to act as Big Brother right now,\u201d he said at the time. \u201cI think society\u2019s views around marijuana has changed to a certain extent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rather than mandate blanket tests, he said the league would be reaching out to players who show signs of problematic dependency, not those who are \u201cusing marijuana casually.\u201d<\/p>\n

NBA initially announced a temporary suspension of cannabis drug testing last year, as players finished out their season in the so-called \u201cbubble\u201d arena in Orlando amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. That was later extended to the entire 2020-2021 season\u00a0following an agreement between the league and the players\u2019 union<\/p>\n

Michele Roberts, the head of the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) who also\u00a0joined the board of the major cannabis company Cresco Labs<\/a> last year, predicted in a recent interview that a formal change to codify the policy indefinitely could come as early as \u201cnext season.\u201d<\/p>\n

While NBA won\u2019t be subjecting players to random drug testing for THC, they will continue to test \u201cfor cause\u201d cases where players have histories of substance use, for example.<\/p>\n

In August, 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

This latest action from NBA comes on the heels of a national discussion about cannabis testing policies for athletes\u2014an issue that made international headlines\u00a0following\u00a0the suspension of U.S. runner Sha\u2019Carri Richardson<\/a>\u00a0from participating in the Olympics over a positive THC test.<\/p>\n

The World Anti-Doping Agency announced last month that it will be conducting a scientific review of marijuana<\/a> next year to determine whether it should continue an international ban on cannabis use by athletes.<\/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

Marijuana icon Snoop Dogg also recently argued that\u00a0sports leagues need to stop testing players for marijuana<\/a>\u00a0and allow to them to use it as an alternative to prescription opioids.<\/p>\n

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Congressman Says He\u2019ll Bring The Psychedelics Reform Movement To Capitol Hill \u2018This Year\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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The post NBA Won\u2019t Randomly Drug Test Players For Marijuana For Another Season, League Announces<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n


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\nRead More: NBA Won\u2019t Randomly Drug Test Players For Marijuana For Another Season, League Announces<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The NBA is extending its policy of not randomly drug testing players for marijuana\u00a0through the 2021-2022 season, a league spokesperson confirmed on Wednesday. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver signaled late last year that the temporary suspension of cannabis drug testing may continue. And now Chief Communications Officer Mike Bass is confirmingContinue 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\/50348"}],"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=50348"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50348\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50349,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50348\/revisions\/50349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}