Big news before 4/20 was that the new NBA collective-bargaining contract will not require testing for THC. This new contract comes on the heels of the NBA having temporarily suspended testing of THC over the last three seasons, in part as a response to the COVID pandemic. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has gone on record regarding concerns about those who are using THC recreationally vs. those who are using it in a more problematic way. And he points out that there are athletes using alcohol in a problematic way but no league prohibits alcohol use.
The NBA isn’t just removing THC from the prohibited drugs; the plan is to also let players promote and invest in cannabis companies, as MLB already does, because nothing says “healthy athlete” like shilling for cannabis…or alcohol…but that’s a topic for a different blog. But, timeout tangent, we really need better education about the disease of addiction for those shilling for mood-altering substances. Fergie of the Black Eyed Peas has been quite open about her severe methamphetamine addiction – and then she was the face of some wine company, as though her brain, or anyone’s for that matter, will be able to discern that the high from alcohol is safe but the high from meth is not.
The NFL hasn’t removed THC from its prohibited substances, but the rules have changed substantially in that sport, too, with fines instead of suspensions and higher cutoff values for positive test results.
Legalization of recreational use of THC in various states has pushed this agenda forward. And that makes sense. Ignoring the federal issue of illegality, why are athletes – or any employees at all – being held to a standard that others in the state are not? This is not an invitation to smoke weed on the job or to even go to the job under the influence of mood-altering substances not used as prescribed by a doctor. But if, in the privacy of my own home, using cannabis is legal, why does my employer get to tell me I can’t use it?
Really good question. And most of the sports leagues are saying that your employer can’t. There are some hold outs, as we saw with sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson in the 2021 Summer Olympics, and there are some negative consequences of use that have no regard for what the league says, as we saw with WNBA star Britney Griner in Russia.
And that’s sort of the bottom line: THC is a mood-altering drug, and all mood-altering drugs can be abused. Because it can be abused, the “safe” moniker is misleading, at best. We all take calculated risks, and some have calculated that THC use is safer than other drug use. However, a person can be addicted to THC the same as a person can be addicted to heroin. The difference is two-fold: addiction to THC won’t KILL, but more people use THC, so population-wise, more people are negatively affected by it.
Because of the culture of drug use as well as the crisis of opioid use, we’ve come to think that any drug that doesn’t cause immediate death from overdose is safe, but that’s not true. Recreational use of THC can be safe-ish, just like recreational use of alcohol can be. But the use of mood-altering drugs not taken as prescribed by a physician is never “safe,” meaning not exposed to danger or risk. Drugs, including the drugs of alcohol or THC, are not “safe.”
May your calculated risks be less risky.
Guided by Guida 
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