NCAA committee recommends dropping marijuana from banned drug list for athletes

[Zeedox]

NCAA committee recommends dropping marijuana from banned drug list for athletes

An NCAA medical committee is recommending the removal of marijuana from its banned drug list and suggesting that testing should be limited to performance-enhancing substances

www.opb.org

The recommendation comes as the U.S. is seeing more and more states allowing medical or recreational marijuana use.

Earlier this year, the committee increased the THC threshold needed for a positive test and recommended revamped penalties for athletes. The threshold for THC — the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana — was raised from 35 to 150 nanograms per milliliter, matching that of the World Anti-Doping Agency.

The committee noted last December that marijuana and its byproducts are not considered performance-enhancing substances.

 

[Gomez Adams]

The problem I have with that is pain relief. White Widow is very, very good at masking pain. I don't think I would have made it through 2012 without it. If someone has an injury and wants to play through it, they can with the right strain.

It IS a performance enhancing drug in that regard - allowing someone to play through pain they otherwise wouldn't be able to. What's more it allows for performance above and beyond the regular by the same route: allowing people to keep running when they otherwise wouldn't before.

I think they need to make exceptions to the rule, not just blanket unbanning it. I have no idea how they could go about doing that though.

 

[Zeedox]

Except NSAID'd are allowed to be used. And they are used for exactly that purpose - pain removal.

Effect of Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs on Sport Performance Indices in Healthy People: a Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials - Sports Medicine - Open

Background Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are medications that are frequently used by athletes. There may also be some abuse of these substances, although it is unclear whether NSAIDs in fact enhance performance. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the...

sportsmedicine-open.springeropen.com

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Prohibited List includes any substance and methods that satisfy two of the following criteria: a drug that “has the potential or enhances sport performance,” represents an actual or potential health risk for athletes or violates the spirit of sport described in the WADA Code [15]. NSAIDs are not on the WADA list although they represent an actual or potential health risk for athletes because they are not considered as performance-enhancing drugs [16].

Five performance-enhancing products that are fair game in improving race times - Canadian Running Magazine

Enhance your performance on the roads and the track by using these five legal substances.

runningmagazine.ca

 

[Gomez Adams]

MJ is not an anti-inflammatory. It's more of an anesthetic masker. It's like Novocain or lidocaine, both of which are illegal as many athletes of the past destroyed their joints and crippled themselves by using injections to mask the pain.

 

[Zeedox]

Actual there are several anti-inflammatories released by THC and CBD.

Medical Cannabis Activity Against Inflammation: Active Compounds and Modes of Action

Inflammation often develops from acute, chronic, or auto-inflammatory disorders that can lead to compromised organ function. Cannabis (Cannabis sativa) has been used to treat inflammation for millennia, but its use in modern medicine is hampered by a ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Cannabis (Cannabis sativa) has been used to treat inflammation for millennia, but its use in modern medicine is hampered by a lack of scientific knowledge. Previous studies report that cannabis extracts and inflorescence inhibit inflammatory responses in vitro and in pre-clinical and clinical trials.

This is how cannabis effectively eases inflammation

While inflammation is the cause of many maladies, it’s also sometimes the remedy. It accounts for back pain, arthritis flare ups, headaches, bowel disorders and even an increase in heart dise…

www.chicagotribune.com

As studies show, not only does cannabis have a positive effect in taming inflammation and a myriad ailments associated with inflammation, the entourage effect created by the combination of cannabinoids, including THC, gives a person an even better result.

In Canada, even our doctors are starting to prescribe it.

https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/drugs-medication/cannabis/information-medical-practitioners/information-health-care-professionals-cannabis-cannabinoids.html#a4.9.7

4.9.7 Inflammation​

The role of the ECS in inflammation is complex as this system has been implicated in both pro- and anti-inflammatory processesReference1149. Endocannabinoids, such as anandamide and 2-AG, are known to be produced and released by activated immune cells and to act as immune cell chemoattractants promoting or directing the inflammatory responseReference1169. On the other hand, cannabinoids can also suppress the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines and thus may have therapeutic applications in diseases with an underlying inflammatory componentReference1169Reference1170. For information on other diseases with an inflammatory component such as the arthritides or IBD, please consult Sections 4.8 and 4.9.8.2, respectively, of this document.

In fact, if you go into a government cannabis store in my province and tell them you need something for inflammation, they will guide you to strains known for their anti-inflamatory terpenes..

 

[Gomez Adams]

That is not the point.

It has the ability to mask pain as a anesthetic does, ergo it should be illegal. What's going to happen is athletes will start leaning on it just like they did Novocain and lidocaine, and years down the road they'll all be crippled just like Dick Butkus and so many others are.

Then, of course, they'll want to sue and it's not going to work. They'll just be fucked, plain and simple.

Sports has been through this bullshit before. All they're going to do is open up a new door to go through it all over again at the expense of athletes who will say, "we only did it because they said it was legal and we thought they knew best".

Then when they're 51 years old and can't walk down a flight of stairs like Jerome Bettis, they'll have the damn nerve to look surprised.

 

[Zeedox]

And, as the link further above stated NSAID's are allowed both as pain and anti-inflammatory.

Over the counter NSAID's:

Over-the-Counter Anti-inflammatory Drugs: Types, Side Effects & More

Over-the-counter anti-inflammatory drugs help reduce pain. Learn how they work. Also discover which ones are safe for children, warnings, and other tips.

www.healthline.com

You keep arguing about masking pain. Both keep saying masking pain - that's what NSAID's and cannabis does. Cannabis is no more enhancing then already allowed medications.

 

[Gomez Adams]

Cannabis is no more enhancing then already allowed medications.

Yes, it is. By a VAST amount.

Pal, 750 mg of OxyContin didn't have the effect on me that half a joint of White Widow did. They aren't in the same ballpark. They're not even in the same league. Nothing over the counter has that kind of effect, not even pure grain alcohol.

 

[Zeedox]

Which is why they are allowing it but it is being monitored on the amount in the system. The limits they had set will stop the analgesic effect you are worried about.

 

[Gomez Adams]

I don't see how on earth they can possibly do that. It's going to be like blood alcohol tests that are constantly challenged in court because of tolerance levels.

All they're doing is making a mess that's going to screw sports up for 20 years before they outright ban it again.

They did the same thing with with other drugs. It never, ever works.

You need drugs to compete, you shouldn't be competing. It's the only way to insure a level playing field.

 

[Zeedox]

I think it's more that they realize there's an open legal market developing in NA. People can be exposed without use.

Heck, it's why smell is no longer allowed as a traffic stop initiator.