Should marijuana be allowed in sports?

Earlier today, the Nevada State Athletic Commission conducted a hearing to decide whether or not to remove marijuana from its list of banned substances. In November, Nevada voted to legalize the use of marijuana at the state level. When this writer was filming boxing in Las Vegas during that time, our crew could smell the sidestream smoke from someone smoking it at practically every other street we walked. Our noses hurt and heads ached as we tried to walk away from the smokers faster.

Most often, people smoke the plant’s dried leaves, flowers, stems and seeds to feel high. But it can also be ingested in food, as a tea, and as vapor. But when consumed as a food product, it will take longer for you to feel the effects, since it has to break down in your digestive system before going into your bloodstream. In Los Angeles, California we had some similar uncomfortable experiences. In Venice Beach, we chanced upon a “Marijuana Evaluation” center where, for US$40, you could “test” your body’s reaction to the substance under the supervision of medical professionals. Some of their personnel, dressed in scrub suits, were on the sidewalk, egging passersby to come in and try the experience.

The US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) revealed that, from 2006 to 2010, there was a marked increase in marijuana-related drug rehabilitation admissions, up to over 350,000. And that was before it became legal in parts of North America. In 2010, marijuana was the second-leading cause of emergency room admissions, next only to cocaine. That year, marijuana-related emergency room visits increased by 59 percent, according to the Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN). A National Survey in Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) report stated that in 2013, 115 million Americans aged 12 or over (or 44 percent of this group) had used marijuana at some point in their life.

The active ingredient in the Cannabis sativa plant that causes the elated sensation is called THC, and affects every organ in the body, including your nervous system, immune system, and of course, your respiratory system. Naturally, smoking it irritates the lungs and regular consumption can cause lung infections, regular coughing and chest colds. Smoking marijuana also increases heart rate, can lower blood pressure and affect blood sugar levels. And, as mentioned, the smell is not pleasant. The drug can also slow down reaction time, increases appetite, cause dry mouth, dizziness, shallow breathing and red eyes and dilated pupils.

Given all those symptoms, would any athlete in his or her right mind think of using marijuana in training or during a match? Considering Las Vegas is considered the boxing (Top Rank, Golden Boy, Mayweather) and MMA (UFC, World Series of Fighting, etc.) capital of the world, these are the sports most likely to be influenced by any decision. Perhaps the only reason one would think of using marijuana is if it has the effect of numbing you to pain temporarily. But you definitely will feel it after three to four hours, that’s for certain.

The biggest danger to legalized use of marijuana in sports is that it will cause a downward spiral. It can disorient you and slow down your reaction time, so you get hit more easily. But you don’t feel it right away, so you can’t heed your body’s danger signals, and can get hurt quite badly. If it causes your blood sugar to deplete faster, you’ll run out of energy more quickly. And with how it plays on your heart rate, you could even get a heart attack from the physical exertion of fighting itself. If it happens to ordinary people, then the effects are magnified in the perilous world of combat sports. 

But there is another problem. Marijuana is still on the prohibited substance list of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), which is followed by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), which in turn polices most major professional sports organizations in the US. Even if Nevada were to legalize its use, and allow it in sports competitions, athletes who do use it could be banned by USADA and WADA. Granted, there are some medical benefits which were the basis for legalizing its use in some parts of the US, those are of no help when it comes to professional sports. If athletes with legitimate medical claims like Anna Kournikova can have problems with WADA, what more those pros who use substances like marijuana purely for recreational purposes?